An elderly Greek couple from the Sydney suburb of Earlwood, Australia, is facing eviction from their family home of 50 years due to cruel strata rules reported The Sydney Morning Herald.
According to the media outlet, pensioners Nitsa, 78, and Spiros Tzavellas, 81, are facing the prospect of becoming homeless after being unable to afford upgrades to their building’s windows voted for by their Body Corporate.
The Greek community of Sydney and beyond was swift to rally support for the elderly couple, with donations currently being made to a gofundme page set up to help them.
“The couple is under unbearable levels of stress and would appreciate any donation to help them save their home at Earlwood they have lived at for 50 years,” wrote their nephew Anthony wrote on the GoFundMe page.
“No donation is too small, let’s all get together and save Nitsa and Spiro.”
The couple is now desperately trying to sell their three-bedroom flat before a deadline of mid-August when bankruptcy hearings will resume in court.
“I’m very stressed, I’ve lost a lot of weight and my husband is very sick, and he’s very worried too,” Nitsa said.
Per the SMH, the saga started in 2019 when the owners’ corporation – also known as a body corporate, strata committee or owners’ strata plan – voted to upgrade the old aluminium windows and raise a special levy to pay for it. The cost allocated to the Tzavellases’ apartment was $18,234.17.
‘Nitsa at the time told her neighbours that she and Spiros could not afford it and begged them to reconsider the improvements or come to a special arrangement.
‘Court documents show the couple paid instalments of $660 a fortnight for much of 2020 and 2021. The full pension for a couple is only $1488.80 a fortnight.
“If bankruptcy proceeds, they will become homeless,” said Mission Australia financial counsellor Isis Khalil Khalil.
“The trustees will go in and they will just sell it for peanuts. They just have to sell it for more than the debt and the solicitor’s fees, which are growing daily and is at about $44,000 now. Plus, there would be tens of thousands of the trustee’s charges. That’s not a good outcome.”
Nitsa and Spiros have been living in their apartment since 1972.
To support this Greek elderly couple, click HERE