How a single sentence cost Melbourne homeowner almost $500,000

A homeowner is furious after the local council decided an anonymous one-sentence submission was enough to heritage list his property – costing him a fortune. 

Tian Xiang Sun claims he has lost $461,250 because of the secretive process to put the heritage overlay on his home at 23 Clapham Street Balwyn in Melbourne’s inner-west.

The ruling has prevented Mr Sun from demolishing the home and building  a new one, which was the plan when he bought the property at auction last July and settled three months later.

Mr Sun entered into a building contract shortly after making the purchase, unaware that in September, a public submission was made to City of Boroondara Council requesting the home to be heritage listed.

That single sentence submission described the house as ‘an interesting and well-resolved example of a low-slung Japanese-influenced craftsman bungalow’.

According to the anonymous author, the property also exhibited ‘superb and highly intact decorative detailing and distinctive use of massing to create a very grounded low-slung house which is comparatively unique within Boroondara’.

On the basis of that submission, council officers recommended the property for heritage listing, which requires an owner to preserve the property, despite it previously being passed over for heritage protection in 1991 and 2015.

As a result, Mr Sun, who was unaware of the heritage nomination for several months after settlement because neither seller or the council were obliged to divulge it, had to default on his building contract as he couldn’t go ahead with construction plans.

Mr Sun, who is Chinese-born, has engaged law firm Mills Oakley to argue that the council’s heritage nomination process is unfair.

The lawyers also are arguing Mr Sun has been discriminated against because of his ethnic background.

Council officers have denied Mr Sun was racially targeted. 

‘These allegations are rejected as baseless,’ a report from officers to council said. 

‘It is worth noting that the nomination … was lodged by the nominator and accepted by council before the settlement date. 

‘Accordingly, council officers had no knowledge of the current owner’s identity when the nomination was accepted.’ 

This single sentence submission by an anonymous author was the basis of council officers deciding to heritage list the property

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal confirmed to The Age that a matter involving the parties was filed on its human rights list last week.

On Monday, Boroondara councillors voted to retain the heritage nomination process and to proceed with listing  23 Clapham Street, along with seven other inner west Melbourne properties that were also suggested by open submission.

Councillors also rejected an amendment that submissions could be only be by people who live in Boroondara.

However, Councillor Cynthia Watson argued that the process was flawed.

‘Is it fair that somebody from Vladivostok can see your property on the internet and then put it forward?’ she told The Age.

She also said that heritage submissions on a property should not be submitted while it was changing hands as this was unfair for the unsuspecting new owner.

The homeowner claims the spanner thrown in the works by the unexpected heritage listing has cost him nearly $500,000

‘Property owners are collateral damage to heritage protection,’ she said,

Boroondara’s urban living director Scott Walker said the council was ready to defend the legal action brought by Mr Sun.

‘Council bases its decision solely on the heritage value of the property, regardless of who nominated it, who owns it, or when it was purchased,’ he said.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted City of Boroondara Council for comment.