The dark days of 2017 featured repeated Channel Nine A Current Affair airings of the distress created by the debacle of Berkeley Living, leaving residents abandoned.
Five years later a Victorian local council is urging the State Government to acquire the derelict retirement village, which has been an “eyesore” since its closure.
The Berkeley Living complex in Patterson Lakes, around 35km southwest of Melbourne’s CBD, was shuttered due to safety concerns in late 2017, and the City of Kingston Council has spent more than $100,000 in the intervening years to secure it against vandals.
Residents who purchased leases at the village have struggled to claim refunds, and the media dubbed the abandoned site a “cesspool for crime”; Kingston Mayor Steve Staikos is now calling on Consumer Affairs Victoria to buy the former village, saying provisions that would allow it to do so have recently come into effect.
“I have recently written to the Minister for Consumer Affairs, who has confirmed that following amendments to the Retirement Villages Act 1986 the Director, Consumer Affairs Victoria is currently considering legal intervention to provide for the sale of the land," he said.
“The community has been deeply concerned the complex will remain an eyesore into the future, and it is essential the State Government now acts.”
Kingston Council has acknowledged the “complex legal issues” surrounding the site, which has 39 individual lots, some now owned by deceased estates.
