A Tasmanian businessman who continued "fixing up" a heritage-listed home despite warnings not to, has been ordered to pay a $15,000 fine by a magistrate.
The Hobart Magistrates Court heard Baocheng Xing was an unlicensed builder at the time he was carrying out the work on the home on Mary Street in North Hobart, which included reinforcing the existing building foundation and fixing an open hole in the floor.
The court heard in May 2020 a council inspection found the house was unsafe and structurally unstable, and the building works did not meet standards.
A follow-up inspection in January 2021 found further works had been undertaken on the property which included the installation of steel posts and steel cross beams.
The lawyer representing Hobart City Council, Nathan Street, told the court: "The nature of this offending has a direct impact on the occupants of the building and future occupants of the building if this were to go unrectified."
Xing pleaded guilty to a charge of performing permit building work without a valid building permit in force in respect of the building work, and performing building work without holding the relevant licence required to perform that work between May 2020 and October 2020.
His lawyer, Peter Slipper, told the court his client worked at a construction company at the time of the offence and believed its building licence had covered him for the work on the house.
"While my client might not have had a permit or licence at the time, he is a person with some experience," Mr Slipper said.
However Mr Street told the court there could not have been any misunderstanding about an emergency order that was made when Hobart City Council inspectors attended the property for the second time in January 2021.
It may require an owner or occupier of a building to stop, or perform, building work or other work and prohibits the occupation of a building or temporary structure.
Magistrate Reg Marron said he did not accept there was a misunderstanding, due to Xing's history and visits by council inspectors on more than one occasion.
He ordered Xing to pay a $15,000 fine and warned him he would be looking at far more substantial costs if he were to be charged with a similar offence in the future.
