The process for resolving building stoushes in the ACT needs a radical overhaul, says a frustrated couple after a boundary dispute with their neighbour.
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Amit and Reena Ghildyal moved from Melbourne to Canberra in 2010 and late last year moved into their new house in the suburb of Lawson.
In recent weeks their neighbour has started building work along their property's boundary, which the Ghildyals say is undermining their fence and has made their deck unsafe.
They had tried every avenue available to resolve the dispute, including going to the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal (ACAT), but had so far come-up empty handed, they said.
"We went to ACAT and asked them to stop construction until this is resolved," Mr Ghildyal said.
"ACAT told us to try Legal Aid, and Legal Aid had a look at it and basically said we can't do anything."
Neighbour Yijuan Chen said there had been an accidental slippage and all construction work on his property had stopped while it was investigated.
"Temporary measures have been taken to prevent further damage to my neighbour's site," he said.
"A geotechnical engineer has investigated the incident and the geotechnical report will be available soon. I will take immediate measures following the geotechnical report."
Mr Ghildyal said that, compared with Melbourne, the process for resolving disputes in the ACT was much more complicated.
"When we built a house in Melbourne it just happened. There were a few issues but they were solved quickly," he said.
"Here we've had all sorts of problems. We're just going around in circles."
The couple said one easy fix would be to provide greater transparency around the building approval process, so affected parties could easily access information about nearby construction work.
In the past nine months the ACT government has received an average of 20 complaints each week regarding building and planning problems in the territory.
With three months remaining in the financial year, the numbers already represented a 40 per cent increase on last year's figures.
An Access Canberra spokeswoman said common areas of concern related to unapproved structures, the compliance and quality of building work, and incomplete work.
"There is no one size fits all when it comes to such matters as each has individual circumstances and complexities," the spokeswoman said.
"Due to the nature of building work, what the issue is may determine what support can be provided.
"Consumers should take a keen and active interest in building works undertaken and where they sense things may not be going to plan contact Access Canberra."
