A court has ruled that former actors and television presenters Lachlan and Karina Daddo can keep three palm trees at their northern beaches home, with the judgment describing their neighbours as having “an unusual sense of entitlement”.
Stuart and Leanne Holdsworth of Newport had applied to the Land and Environment Court to compel the Daddos to remove or prune their palm trees, arguing they “formed a hedge”, and obstructed “iconic views to Newport Beach and Peak surf break”.
The parties were all self-represented in court.
Lachlan Daddo in his profile picture for DiJones Palm Beach real estate agency.Credit:DiJones
The judgment said the Daddos had agreed to prune their macadamia tree at least twice - in 2016 and again in 2021 to enhance their neighbours’ water views, but resisted their requests to remove or prune the three Bangalow Palms.
Lochie Daddo and Karina Brown at the Australian premiere of Legally Blonde The Musical back in 2012.Credit:Brendon Thorne / Getty Images
One palm tree beside the driveway was 10-12 metres tall, and the other two in the backyard near the property border were five metres tall.
Acting Commissioner John Douglas, an arborist, ruled the bigger palm tree could not be part of a hedge because it was planted 10-20 years before the other two trees and was located separately.
He said in his judgment that the two younger palms were planted from a single pot, noting this was common for the species of palm, but while they could be considered a “clump”, there was no evidence they were planted as a hedge.
Douglas ruled that the Holdworths had satisfied the requirement to make a reasonable effort to reach an agreement with their neighbours, based on the evidence of messages and emails over 12 months and a request to engage in mediation.
But Douglas said looking from the Holdsworths’ main living area and adjacent deck towards the “iconic” beach view, the obstruction of the views by the palm trees was minor, not severe.
The Holdsworths have “sweeping local and district views spanning a broad arc of about 150 degrees from north-west around to the east … with undulating landforms, and extensive native and urban vegetation … and a narrow, tunnel-like view through to the Newport beach surf”, the judgment said.
Douglas said the Holdsworths were unprepared to prosecute their claim and appeared unfamiliar with the requirements of the Act. “Had they been more conscientious, they may have appreciated that their case was doomed to fail, and thus not wasted their neighbours’ time,” he wrote.
“Mr and Mrs Holdsworth displayed an unusual sense of entitlement to compel their neighbours to prune their trees, apparently based on some nebulous notion that it was ‘unneighbourly for them to do otherwise’.
Lachlan or “Lochie” Daddo along with two of his older brothers, Cameron and Andrew, were fixtures on Australian television for much of the 1990s and early 2000s.
A photo of Lochie Daddo on Neighbours in 1992.
Lachlan Daddo’s first presenting role was for ABC TV’s Countdown Revolution in the early 1990s. He also played the role of Stephen Gottlieb on Neighbours in the early 1990s and went on to host travel show Getaway in the mid-1990s. He is now working as a real estate agent.
His wife Karina Daddo nee Brown was also an actor and television presenter.
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