Sunraysia Daily Saturday, March 3, 2018 News |3

2009 - Stevens’ AFL career ends after 231 games with Port Adelaide and Carlton.

2014 - Appointed Glenelg’s senior coach in the SANFL.

January 2015 - Found guilty of bashing his former girlfriend and threatening to kill her. Glenelg sacks him the same day.

March 2015 - Sentenced

to eight months’ jail but is immediately released pending an appeal.

November 2015 - Stevens moves to Mildura to coach Red Cliffs but is blocked by AFL Victoria and the SFNL.

April 2016 - AFL Victoria dismisses Stevens’ appeal against a playing ban.

July 2016 - Stevens’ eight-month jail sentence is reduced to three months, with a further three months suspended after a County

Court appeal.January 2017 - Stevens’

company NJS Excavation and Landscapes registers the Leisure Pools Mildura business name and enters into supply deal with Leisure Pools.

April 2017 - Stevens makes his SFNL debut for Red Cliffs.

Late 2017 - Leisure Pools and Spas Manufacturing (LPSM) investigates after receiving complaints about pools installed in the Mildura area.

January 2018 - LPSM’s supply agreement with Stevens’ company NJS ends.

LIFE AFTER THE AFL FOR NICK STEVENS

DISGRACED former AFL star Nick Stevens faces an investiga-tion by the state building watch-dog amid claims he owes sub-stantial money to suppliers and Sunraysia customers.

The investigation centres on allegations his business Leisure Pools Mildura installed swim-ming pools without permits.

Several customers who paid Leisure Pools Mildura deposits have been left with

incomplete pools.Leisure Pools and Spas Man-

ufacturing (LPSM) had an agree-ment to supply Mr Stevens with pool shells until the deal ended in January.

LPSM said it received com-plaints and now alleges the for-mer Carlton and Port Adelaide player owes it “a significant amount of money”.

Mr Stevens declined to com-ment when contacted by Sun-raysia Daily yesterday.

Mildura Rural City Council confirmed five stop-work notic-es were issued for Leisure Pools Mildura jobs. Two of those cases have since been resolved.

The Victorian Building Au-thority (VBA) did not indicate

how many pool installations were under scrutiny when con-tacted by Sunraysia Daily.

“As it’s a matter currently un-der investigation, we are unable to provide any commentary,” a VBA spokesman said.

The Leisure Pools Mildura business name is registered to NJS Excavation and Landscapes Pty Ltd – of which Mr Stevens is the sole director and sole share-holder, according to the ASIC registry.

The 38-year-old moved to Sunraysia to join the Red Cliffs Football Netball Club at the end of 2015, after his professional coaching career was curtailed when a domestic violence con-viction led to his sacking from

SANFL club Glenelg.He is believed to have left the

district and a Red Cliffs spokes-man yesterday said the club had not been able to contact the midfielder for about a month.

Swimming pools can be constructed only by registered builders or owner-builders who have obtained a certificate of consent from the VBA.

Pool fence installer Garry Al-derton said he contacted Mr Ste-vens after learning a job site did not have a building permit.

“He said the permit was on its way,” Mr Alderton said, but it never arrived.

Mr Alderton said he was aware of at least five people whose pool installations had

been left in limbo, including some who had paid substantial deposits to Mr Stevens.

Mr Alderton also faces the prospect of losing a $3000 de-posit for a fence paid by one of Mr Stevens’ customers.

Mr Stevens is not listed as an accredited builder on the VBA register.

“LPSM encourages anyone who has money owing by Mr Stevens or a related company to contact the Mildura police or, if they have a complaint about de-fective building work, to contact the Victorian building regulator, the Victorian Building Authority at vba.vic.gov.au for further ad-vice,” the pool supplier said in a statement to Sunraysia Daily.

CHRISTOPHERTesta

ctesta@sunraysiadaily.com.au

Stevens faces pool probe

Paperwork before poolsCONSUMERS who opt to install a pool under an owner-builder arrange-ment expose themselves to greater risk, the head of Victoria’s Swimming Pools and Spas Association says.

SPASA Victoria has become aware of reports several consumers in Sun-raysia had experienced problems with pool instal-lations linked to former footballer Nick Stevens.

SPASA chief executive Brendan Watkins said he was unaware whether pools had been con-structed by an unregis-tered builder or without compliant contracts but urged anyone intending to install a pool to do their due diligence.

“It may well be that they’ve had the wool pulled over their eyes ...

but it’s never a good out-come if they don’t have a contract in place,” he said.

“If people want to know the right way, the le-gal and legitimate way to install a swimming pool, there is a million pieces of information available on our website.”

A registered builder must be engaged under a written domestic build-ing contract to carry out work costing more than $10,000, and an owner-builder must obtain a certificate of consent for work valued more than $16,000.

Pools cannot be used until a certificate of final inspection is obtained from the relevant building surveyor and a perma-nent safety barrier is installed.

Nick Stevens

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