Waverley Council v Bobolas (No 3) [2014] NSWLEC 16

Land and Environment Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Waverley Council v Bobolas (No 3) [2014] NSWLEC 16 Hearing dates: 4 March 2014 Decision date: 04 March 2014 Jurisdiction: Class 4 Before: Biscoe J Decision: Orders set out at [34] of judgment. Catchwords: CIVIL ENFORCEMENT - respondents fail to comply with Council orders to remove waste from residential premises made under s 124 (Order 22A) Local Government Act 1993 - Council seeks orders that Council remove the waste. Legislation Cited: Local Government Act ss 124, 678 Cases Cited: Waverley Council v Bobolas (No 2) [2013] NSWLEC 130 Waverley Council v Bobolas [2013] NSWLEC 119 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Waverley Council (Applicant) Mary Bobolas (First Respondent) Elena Bobolas (Second Respondent) Liana Bobolas (Third Respondent) Representation: COUNSEL: A Pearman (Applicant) N/A (Respondents) SOLCIITORS: Wilshire Webb Staunton Beattie (Applicant) N/A (Respondents) File Number(s): 40466/13

EX TEMPORE Judgment 1This is a civil enforcement proceeding brought by Waverley Council against Mary Bobolas and her daughters Elena Bobolas and Liana Bobolas seeking relief under s 678 of the Local Government Act 1993 as the result of failure of the respondents to comply with Council orders served on them under s 124 (order 22A) requiring them to remove waste from residential premises at 19 Boonara Avenue, Bondi, on which a dwelling house is erected. 2The respondents did not appear at the hearing of the proceedings today. 3The s 124 orders were made on 5 December 2012. Each included reasons for the order and required compliance within 28 days of service of the order. The orders were served on the respondents on 12 December 2012. The terms of the order were clear: Remove the accumulations of waste from the front and rear yards, the area between the house and side boundaries and the front verandah of the house on the subject premises being garbage (both putrescible and non-putrescible) and refuse including but not limited to plastic containers, filled garbage receptacles, plastic crates, metals, food containers and wrappers, tins and jars, household furniture including tables and chairs, floor coverings, cushions, foam, cardboard, papers and similar products, rags, bottles, construction materials including bricks, loose tiles and assorted timber products, books, live and dead vegetation, disused electrical items and other miscellaneous matter and materials which are likely to afford harbourage for vermin and insects. 4The respondents have failed to comply with the orders. 5Section 124 of the Local Government Act 1993 provides that a council may order a person to do or refrain from doing a thing specified in column 1 of the following table if the circumstances specified opposite it in column 2 of the table exist and the person comes within the description opposite it in column 3 of the table. Order 22A in that table contains three columns as follows: "22A To remove or dispose of waste that is on any residential premises or to refrain from keeping waste on those premises The waste is causing or is likely to cause a threat to public health or the health of any individual Owner or occupier of the premises"