Five East Tamworth homeowners have been left without access to the rear of their property, or car parking, after Tamworth Regional Council auctioned off a laneway at the back of their Darling Street properties.
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For years, the Victorian-era brick homes on Darling Street in Tamworth had access to a narrow and unnamed laneway off Dowell Avenue and were given permission to build carports and even lay a tarred driveway.
Possibly unbeknownst to them, the laneway was privately owned, and recently went up for auction with 56 other parcels of land that council had flagged as having unpaid rates for at least five years.
The laneway eventually sold for $60,000 after one of the homeowners, Mitchell Single, and a neighbouring homeowner entered into a bidding war.
Mr Single told Fairfax that he stopped bidding for the 100 metre square block at $59,000 because “it simply wasn’t worth it”.
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He also said the successful buyers told him they were going to buy it “no matter what” because of their future plans to build an apartment development on their potentially bigger block of land.
“I wanted to buy it as an access point for all five of us. No one would have lost out if I bought it,” said Mr Single.
“It is frustrating, the fact that everyone has bought their home and built carports and then all of a sudden you don’t have a driveway any more.”
An anonymous homeowner said because the title at the Lands Board Office didn’t have ‘access lane’ written on it “they don’t really have a leg to stand on”.
They also said they were annoyed that council did not notify neighbouring properties of the sale.
“We would have liked to have known that it was for sale. We could have all probably chipped in and converted it into an access lane.”
However a TRC spokesperson said “council is 100 per cent confident it has followed due process”.
“The sale was advertised extensively by council in the Government Gazette and The Northern Daily Leader,” the spokesperson said.
“We also engaged a real estate agent who advertised the property in question on their website, as well as The Leader’s own Real Estate Guide (Domain).
“This parcel of land was hotly contested by neighbouring land owners, and this is reflected in the final sale price.
“It is important to understand that neighbouring properties have never had legal access to this parcel of land. There is no easement and any solicitor would have advised them accordingly.”
Recently an offer for $459,000 made on 65 Darling Street was withdrawn after the buyer found out the property no longer had rear laneway access.
