Why this elderly couple can’t move into their new Wollongong apartment

A devastated elderly couple say they’ve been locked out of their own home three years after buying it off the scheme – because Housing NSW made developers an offer they couldn’t refuse.

Retirees Ilya and Menka migrated from Macedonia more than 50 years ago to a large home in Wollongong, 115km south of Sydney, but chose to downsize in 2019.

Menka has had triple bypass, open heart surgery, while Ilya has had both her knees replaced and is suffering from arthritis. Both are in their 80s.

The elderly couple urgently needed to move to a smaller home that was better suited to their limited mobility, something easier to clean and closer to the shops.

So, with the help of their son Sash, three years ago they bought a unit in Shellharbour – about 14 miles from Wollongong – for $705,000 off the floor plan.

But in March 2021, the couple were told their apartment had been snatched by Housing NSW – who offered to rent the whole block – and they would not be allowed to move in.

Elderly Wollongong couple Ilya and Menka (pictured with their son Sasha) have been unable to move into their new home for three years

Sash had arranged most of the arrangements for the new home, as English is the couple’s second language.

He said he was called into the real estate office for a “meeting” where he was told his parents would get a full refund and $10,000 compensation, but they wouldn’t be allowed to move in.

‘He told me they had taken all the other units off the sale… Housing NSW had made an offer to rent all the units. He told me it might not be a safe place for my parents,” he told A Current Affair.

The family declined the compensation offer, saying the post-Covid housing crisis meant they would not be able to find another suitable home.

The apartments officially opened in October 2021, but the ongoing legal battle between Ilya, Menka and their real estate agency prevented them from moving in.

Meanwhile, apartments within the complex are still available to rent for $550 per week on the property’s website.

Menka and Ilya (above) said it is too ‘difficult’ to live in their current home and they should move into the apartment

Menka said life in their big house became too “difficult.”

‘I’ve waited too long. Nobody cares, people are suffering,” he said.

Sash said it was difficult to explain to his parents why they can’t move into their new home when all their future neighbors have already done so.

“They ask me every week ‘what’s happening with the unit?’ It has stood there empty. I bought it in good faith, I would still like to have the device,” he said.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the agency for comment.

The case remains before the Supreme Court.