By ANEEKA SIMONIS
A PAKENHAM retirement village has told two sick residents that the toad stools and toxic black mould currently growing in their damp and water-damaged bathroom is their problem, two weeks after the village undertook restorative works at its expense.
Cardinia Waters Retirement Village resident Monica Salomons, 59, has hepatitis C, a virus that compromises her immune system, and fears close contact with the toxic mould could be putting her heath at further risk.
Her husband, Gary Salomons, 66, said he had twice been admitted to hospital with stress and tension symptoms which he claimed had aggravated a pre-existing medical condition as a result of the ongoing dispute with the village to fix, what he regarded, as a construction fault.
“With my wife’s condition, it could kill her. Her whole immune system is down,” Mr Salomons said.
However, a Cardinia Waters Retirement Village spokesperson said initial repairs were performed out of “goodwill”, not out of obligation – and that no further works at the unit would be paid for by the Village.
“While not being obliged to perform repairs given the issue had arisen over five years since occupancy (and not within two years), as a gesture of goodwill the Village had organised for repairs to the bathroom,” the spokesperson said.
“Further investigations were undertaken which confirmed the water damage was being caused through cracks in the grout, and not due to any other factor including leaking pipes.
“The Village advised the residents of the findings and confirmed it was their responsibility (like all householders) to maintain the grout in the shower recess.”
Mr Salomons said issues in their ensuite began two years ago, and he and his wife weren’t the only two to experience water damage in the Village.
He claimed a neighbour has had a whole wall repaired as a result of water damage, however Cardinia Waters Retirement Village would not confirm if any other residents had reported such errors.
According to Mr Salomons, restorative works were funded by the Village two weeks ago.
But it did not solve the problem as evidenced by the recently sprouted toad stools from the base of a bathroom door from among the black mould growth.
“There is a gaping hole between the tiles,” Mr Salomons wrote in a letter to the Village on 14 June after the recent works had been completed.
In April last year, a building inspector was commissioned to examine the unit’s bathroom.
The report found evidence of wood rot in the architraves and doorjamb and damaged or mission sealant, in addition to construction errors including non-compliant tiles at the base of the shower and a lack of silicon around pipe penetration zones.
The Salomons have raised the issue with a number of different authorities including Consumer Affairs Victoria.
