Hole lot of trouble

By Lia Bichel
A DOVETON woman is pleading with her Dandenong real estate agency to fix a giant hole in her roof which she says is driving away business.
Allison Cornell said when she took over Doveton Discounts in November she never expected the trouble she would encounter.
In the first month of owning the business, her roof leaked after a heavy rainfall.
Ms Cornell said she notified her real estate agency, French Real Estate, of the problem and had to put in an insurance claim for all her rain damaged stock.
She said a friend put a makeshift support over the roof in an attempt to prevent it from collapsing.
When torrential rains hit Victoria in March, the hole became much bigger and the roof leaked again.
Ms Cornell said the real estate agent sent someone to fix the roof, but it was actually made worse.
“They pulled the plasterboard off the hole because they said it was safer, but now we have fibreglass hanging from the roof and people are scared to come inside,” she said.
“It’s also an eyesore. I have had a lot of people complaining about it to me.”
French Real Estate Managing Director Peter French said renovation requests and major maintenance matters were referred to landlords for instructions.
He said that after the rain damage late last year, the earliest appointment available from roofing contractors was 8 March 2010 and they were in contact with Ms Cornell, who accepted the proposed works schedule.
Mr French said after the appointment was made, more ceiling damage was made by the storm in March and the property manager sent a tradesman to assess the damage.
“As we were concerned about the potential safety risk to Allison and her customers due to the possible collapse of a section of the plaster, Allison agreed that the worst damage area of ceiling plaster be removed,” he said.
“We advised Allison that until the roof was watertight, we couldn’t fully reinstate the plaster ceiling. She understood and agreed to this, as well as the expected timeframe and was tired of waiting for a resolution.”
But Ms Cornell said she did not expect the long wait.
“I’ve let it go for five months, and I didn’t want to tread water, but I am really disappointed,” she said.
“If it wasn’t for the loyalty of customers and support of two children who help me look after the shop, I don’t think I would be standing where I am. I have to keep it going for them and my four children.”
Mr French said the agencycontacted the Plumbing Industry Commission (PIC) to assess the roof and get them to intervene to get the original roofing contractor to return and fix it properly.
He said the landlord and agency regretted the time taken to rectify the problems but they had to wait for the PIC’s approval and certification before additional works could be finalised.