[Ian Clayton]

Hi Emma,

We had a situation very similar to yours. A house burned down and the presence and likely spread of asbestos required Council to issue an order under sections 121B & 121D of the EP&A Act (sorry, these are the old EP&A Act section numbers).

The order wasn’t complied with, so Council had to clean it up costing around $30k. The public risk was very high so required us to act. Section 121ZJ of the EP&A Act allows for the recovery of the costs incurred from the owner, not as debt on the land. The mortgage holder eventually sold the now vacant, clean block for about the value of our debt. We put the debt amount on the 603 certificate and following negotiations, they agreed to pay half of the debt form the sale proceeds.

The house was insured, but the insurers refused to pay due the circumstances surrounding the cause of the fire. The now former owner is elderly & has no means to settle the debt. We have not taken any recovery action against her and will likely have to write-off the balance.

Whether or not the debt is a property debt will depend on the legislation under which the order is given. It might not make much difference in your case though, given the low value of the land. Sounds like you might be left with a write-off like us.

Cheers
Ian