Gold Coast balcony cost blowout leaves couple on brink of bankruptcy

A couple who just wanted to make their home look nicer are now close to bankruptcy after a nightmare renovation and an endless body corporate battle.

Nick and Soula Hronis’ new balcony ended up costing $500,000 and they could soon lose their apartment entirely. 

The Hronises were sure they had all the approvals they needed to expand a balcony on their unit at the Malibu complex in Mermaid Waters on the Gold Coast.

‘When I built that balcony, I had approval from the body corporate from the previous owner,’ Mr Hronis told A Current Affair.

‘I had approval from the Gold Coast City Council. I had an approval from a building certifier. I had approval from a structural engineer.’

But some of their claims have been disputed and a long-running legal battle found the balcony illegally encroached onto common property – despite their being similar-sized structures on other units in the complex. 

In June 2021, a court ordered the Hronises’ patio be removed and an administrator who provided a preliminary cost estimate was appointed.

‘We consider an appropriate amount to begin and substantially progress the administration (if not complete it) would be $16,000,’ the administrator said in an email.

Mr Hronis, who is on a disability carers’ pension, paid that the $16,000 within weeks, but when a quote was provided by a licensed builder, the cost blew out to $100,000.

The administrator told a court that the couple has shown ‘persistent and pervasive recalcitrance’ in the matter. 

A rate of $495 per hour is charged by the administrator for every phone call taken or email sent, making any questions asked very expensive.

Daily Mail Australia does not suggest the administrator did anything wrong, but with interest added its bill is now $267,000.

BEFORE: Gold Coast couple Nick and Soula Hronis’s balcony is pictured before the renovation 

AFTER: Pictured is what the Hronises’ balcony improvement looked like before they were ordered to tear it down

On top of that, a court has also ordered $52,000 must be paid by the Hronises to the other party’s lawyers.

The couple has used five different lawyers over the timeline of this dispute and took out a mortgage to pay their own legal fees, meaning the total cost of what they thought would be $16,000 is now $500,000. 

Ms Hronis said they would never have gone down this route if they thought it would cost even a tenth of that.

‘I would have to be stupid, absolutely out of my mind to throw away such money and be like half a million in debt,’ she said.

Bankruptcy proceedings against the couple are now underway over the debt.

‘They can bankrupt us and take our home and kick us out for work they have not done,’ Mr Hronis said.

In the almost two years of disputes, the administrator was not able to remove the balcony deemed to have been illegal, so earlier this year Mr Hronis had it removed himself for $3,500.

But this has led to a new battleground over whether it was done properly without damaging the building.

Nick and Soula Hronis’ new balcony in Mermaid Waters (pictured) was supposed to cost $16,000 but has ended up costing $500,000

It is also claimed that other apartments in the complex have balconies that extend onto common property and that some of them also have removal orders which the Body Corporate has not enforced.

‘Why can’t I be left alone with this little balcony?’ Ms Hronis asked.

Chris Irons, who runs a strata mediation firm called Strata Solve, said when things get as bad as the Hronis’ situation, ‘there are few winners except for lawyers’. 

Ray Stevens, the LNP state MP for the area, said he’s stunned at what has happened to the Hronises.

‘The removal of a patio has ended up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs through the court system, which is basically unfair and unjust,’ he said.

A Current Affair reported that of the 50,000 community title schemes in Queensland, the Malibu complex has the third highest number of body corporate disputes.