Greek Australian property developer Bill Gertos won a $1.7m Supreme Court appeal case and will keep ownership of a property he acquired under an archaic squatter’s rights law. The law states that if a squatter occupied the property and paid its bills for at least 12 years he could own it through adverse possession.
Mr Gertos claimed that he discovered a house standing empty and derelict at Malleny Street in Ashbury, Sydney, in 1992 (later amended to 1998). He was awarded the title deed to the house which was challenged by the descendants of the original owner, Phyllis Grimes.
Grimes lived in the property for 60 years as a protected tenant, paying a small amount of rent to husband-and-wife real estate agents Peter and Christine Dendrinos, however the last owner on record was Henry Downey, who bought the house in the 1920s. He died in 1947 without leaving a will, but his descendants claim that they did not know of the existence of the house.
READ MORE: Greek Australian developer wins Sydney home ownership after 20 years of squatting
There was devastation by the family of the owner when they spoke to A Current Affair earlier in the year. Graeme and Colin Downey, the nephews of 95-year-old Joyce Downey, Henry’s surviving daughter, said that they found the situation “pretty devastating”.
“We didn’t know that our grandfather owned (the house) until a policeman knocked on our door in November 2017.”
The outcome of the appeal was to be heard on 5 June, but the family withdrew the appeal against the decision of the lower court.