by Cam Lucadou-Wells
The owner of a Dandenong hotel has pleaded guilty to failing to comply with building orders and to provide reports on essential safety measures for up to three years.
Emad Farag, 64, of Patterson Lakes, and his company E & M Farag Pty Ltd, each pleaded guilty at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 8 March to three related charges.
The company owned the eight-storey City Edge hotel in Thomas Street, which includes ground-level shops, first-storey offices and six floors of accommodation.
In March 2019, a Greater Dandenong building inspector found the maintenance records for the hotel’s essential safety measures (ESMs) were not adequately completed.
The annual essential safety measure report was also not completed.
According to a prosecution summary, the maintenance log books showed faults with emergency lights and exit signs, and that lights and signs were untested on storeys 6, 7 and 8.
An essential-safety-measures inspection report found the car park ventilation/exhaust didn’t meet Australian Standards, a stand-by power battery supply needed replacing, fire exit doors were non-compliant, and there was non-compliant signage on fire doors.
The council issued a building order to complete the records by April 2019.
Despite a follow-up inspection, Farag didn’t obtain compliance until June 2022 – months after the matter had gone to court.
Prosecutor Mathew Sherwell told the court that the failures meant there was “no visibility” on compliance with ESMs – which related to the safety of the hotel’s occupants.
“We’re talking about an eight-storey building used as a place of accommodation for a number of people.
“When asked for the documents (in 2019), they’re not provided until 2022. There’s a serious period of time in which there’s no visibility as to the status of the (ESMs)”
Farag had been previously convicted for failing to comply with Greater Dandenong building orders, Sherwell told the court.
Among several previous breaches, Farag failed to obey a council order for more than 18 months to demolish an unauthorized office mezzanine in a warehouse.
In 2011, his company was convicted and fined $30,000 for failing to comply with an emergency building order to back-fill a six-metre deep excavation within a metre of adjoining boundaries in Edith Street, Dandenong.
The walls of the excavation were not supported and undermined the fencing and buildings on adjoining properties, Sherwell said.
WorkSafe found that Farag’s company failed to comply within 48 hours, with the walls collapsing below the cut. The order wasn’t complied with until four months later, Sherwell said.
A defence barrister told the court that it had been difficult for Farag to source the 700-cubic-metres of back-fill soil at the time.
He said the City Edge breaches were less serious.
Farag had taken so long to comply with the most-recent issues due to his father’s long illness and death in 2019 as well as Covid lockdowns from 2020, according to the lawyer.
He also argued there was an “absence of communications” from the council to Farag in 2020-’21.
There was no longer any risk of re-offending now that Farag had retired after 30 years as a builder, the defence argued.
Farage “took pride” in his “legacy” of more than 300 projects including 15 apartments across Melbourne.
The convictions were “extremely rare blemishes on an otherwise spotless record”, the lawyer said.
The defence submitted for a fine without conviction due to the nature of the offence and Farag’s “excellent standing in the community”.
In the three day hearing, Farag had earlier unsuccessfully applied to exclude evidence of two of the council’s building surveyors, alleging they had obtained their evidence “improperly”.
Sentencing is expected to take place at Ringwood Magistrates Court on 18 March.
