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A couple have been left devastated after work on their dream Gold Coast home had to be stopped because it was built just 40cm away from their neighbour's house.
Kathy Morin and Devon Matsalla have filed a complaint with the Gold Coast City Council, who are in the middle of an investigation to try and figure out how the two luxury homes were built so close together.
You can take a look at their predicament in the video below:
The Canadian couple's home, which they have been 'planning for years', can't be built because there's no way for builders to fit scaffolding in between the two properties.
Devon admitted he was left feeling 'shocked and very confused' when he saw how close their Coomera Waters property was to their neighbour's.
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The neighbouring property blocking construction belongs to Dreamworld CEO Greg Yong.
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As you can see, the ground floor is no problem, but Yong's first storey is jutting out so far that Kathy and Devon would be able to touch it from their new home.
Upper floors in the estate are required to be at least 2.5 metres away from a neighbouring property unless otherwise approved by the council.
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Now, the Gold Coast City Council are trying to figure out how Yong's development was approved.
"Somehow it got approved through the chain, I don't know how it got approved, our builder has no idea, how it got approved," Kathy told Australia's Channel 9.
Meanwhile, Yong is just as confused that he has been accused of breaching construction rules.
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"We wouldn't have been able to build it if it wasn't certified," the CEO insisted.
Most houses on the Coomera Waters estate are built pretty close to one another, which might have led to Yong's upper-level extension, but Devon says that's no excuse.
"If they maybe wanted a bigger home then they needed a bigger lot," he said.
Kathy added: "If it was a couple of centimetres we wouldn't be having this conversation but it's preventing us from building our house, like that's big, it's not aesthetics."
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The Dreamworld CEO said that he has already offered his neighbours a temporary removal of the wooden battens on his home so that scaffolding can be put up.
"Our builder spoke to their builder three weeks ago and said we're happy to organise this so you can get up there," he said.
But this sort of resolution would only lead to additional costs, and the couple say nothing has been locked in yet.
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As a result, building on the couple's home has been paused for the past month.
Kathy confessed: "It's heartbreaking. We've put in all our money, we've put in all the time, we've been waiting a long time."
A spokesperson for Gold Coast City Council has confirmed that they've given Yong until the end of February to respond as investigations continue.
Ali Condon