Ajdin Dzemailoski has lived happily (until recently) in his Coolbinia home for 16 years.

He bought his home with a pool already installed and documentation shows that it was built 'in accordance with plans approved by the city (of Stirling) in 1968'.

The house shares a boundary with an old laneway that was used in the days when the 'dunnyman' and 'milko' would use the laneway for pickups and deliveries. Historical aerial photographs show that the position of the pool and building have been unchanged for the last 40 years, well before Mr Dzemailoski owned the property.

Jump forward to the present day and now the council has issued an ultimatum to Mr Dzemailoski to either demolish the pool or pay $200,000 to reclaim land that the pool now encroaches on a public access way.

He is being fined $500 every day if he doesn't hand the land back back. But he had no idea - when he bought his home 16 years ago. It's just 'bad luck' say the City of Stirling. Mr Dzemailoski has now engaged the services of a lawyer to try and fight their demands in court, a process which will no doubt cost him thousands of dollars.

___

Liberal MP Michael Sutherland has advocated for Adjin Dzemailoski and has commented:

“[Adjin Dzemailoski] did not do anything wrong yet is being pursued by the council as if he was responsible for the error in the boundary alignment. Council’s approach to this matter has been disappointing: its officials are there to serve the public.”

___

Here are the pathetic arguments made by City of Stirling Lord Mayor Giovanni Italiano, this callous, mean-spirited individual who apparently represents our community:

(courtesy of WA Today)

"It's an issue of buyer beware, because when the chap bought the property many many years ago he should have made sure what he was buying was in fact what he bought," he said.

"It's not a mere 20 or 30 millimetres, it's in fact encroaching by some three metres and that's a lot of land.

"The property can be sold providing the owner now tells the new people that there are issues associated.

"Why would the city in any instance give the man three metres of land for nothing? Now if we did that we'd be having people from all parts of the city of Stirling saying, 'well, we're only about 30 millimetres over there' and 'we're only about 50 millimetres there'.

"Just because it's there doesn't mean it's yours to take.

"There's a work order out for him to rectify issues with his property – he has chosen not to and chosen the legal side of things."

He said Mr Dzemailoski was well within his rights to take legal action but the council had to act now that the boundary issue had come to light.

"It's not the City of Stirling's fault that someone built in the wrong place; it's not the City of Stirling's fault that someone put a fence in the wrong place, and of course, unfortunately, this gentleman is in a catch-22 situation.

"If this gentleman now is going to court and gets adverse possession God bless him – good luck to him," he said.

"I wish him all the luck in the world, I've got nothing personal against it at all, but we cannot change the rules for one.

"If the court decides that after so many years he has the right of adverse possession well good luck to him."

___

Other links to media reporting this case:

The Voice: CALL FOR CALM OVER COUNCIL’S $200K POOL FIX DEMAND http://perthvoiceinteractive.com/2015/02/26/call-for-calm-over-councils-200k-pool-fix-demand/

WA Today: COOLBINIA MAN TAKES CITY OF STIRLING TO COURT OVER $200,000 WORK ORDER http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/coolbinia-man-takes-city-of-stirling-to-court-over-200000-work-order-20150605-ghhdik.html

Channel 9: COUNCIL DISPUTE https://www.facebook.com/9NewsPerth/photos/a.135392629806239.23739.135107816501387/975593672452793/

6PR: IT'S JUST PETTY BUREAUCRACY http://www.6pr.com.au/news/its-just-petty-bureauracy-20150227-13qoap.html

The Voice: AJDIN VS GOLIATH http://perthvoiceinteractive.com/2015/06/05/ajdin-vs-goliath/