Ousted Nedlands boss sells house for $2.9m after court fight
Argyle sold the 1012sqm Kinninmont Avenue block for $2.9 million last month, with an advert that promised a 'compelling blank canvas' for a 'sought-after development offering'.
Speaking while abroad yesterday, Ms Argyle said she sold the property — which included the separate sale of the weatherboard house structure — because her family did not want to live with the neighbouring home looking into her children's bedrooms.
'They destroyed our privacy,' she told House That!.
She maintained the neighbouring house was an overdevelopment — a claim she made regularly during a year-long battle to prevent construction — because it did not strictly comply with the R Codes.
But she rejected claims that it was a bit rich to play up the density potential in an appeal to developers, and at odds with her highly-publicised stance on promoting green space. Argyle's home in Nedlands sold as a development site. Credit: supplied
Her property advert highlighted in-principal approval for three lots and the capacity to 'increase the density significantly' under the R60 zoning, which would allow the block to be carved into six 150sqm lots.
'The choice is yours as to how far you subdivide and how you develop the site,' the advert said.
But Ms Argyle yesterday said the advert spoke only about what could be achieved under the planning code. Fiona Argyle house structure has been sold seperately to the block. Credit: supplied
Her fight against the neighbours, however, was over breaching aspects of that code.
'I know it sounds ironic but (the advert discusses what is possible under) the planning laws,' she said.
'That is the zoning of the block, and the people who bought it can build what they want with it.' The house is set on a 1012sqm block on Kinninmont Avenue. Credit: supplied
Back in 2022, the Argyle-led council rejected plans for the neighbouring home, despite advice from city planning staff that they should approve it.
Councillors again refused the application months later after the design was altered during mediation.
Ms Argyle had recused herself from voting due to her interest, but it was revealed she had texted a councillor who spoke in favour of the neighbour's application that her comments were 'appalling'. Inside the Nedlands home. Credit: supplied
Argyle then applied to intervene as an interested third party when her neighbours took the matter to the State Administrative Tribunal, but her request was rejected.
Taking the battle to epic proportions, she then appealed the SAT decision in the Supreme Court, but again failed, with the neighbours securing the right to build.
Yesterday she said the failed bid had cost her $90,000 in legal fees. The council also had a costly legal bill of $30,000, while the neighbours had complained of their expenses too.
At the time, Ms Argyle tole The West Australian it was her duty to fight.
'The Mayor should be setting the example,' she told The West Australian at the time.
'If I do not have the courage to defend my home from over-development and non-compliance, then what does that signal to the other people in the City of Nedlands?' Ms Argyle said.
The family will move into another home in the city of Nedlands.
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A top ally of Trump, Republican senator Lindsey Graham, said on Sunday that the conflict was nearing an inflection point as Trump showed growing interest in helping Ukraine fight back against Russia's full-scale invasion. It's a cause that Trump had previously dismissed as being a waste of US taxpayer money. "In the coming days, you'll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves," Graham said on CBS's Face the Nation. "One of the biggest miscalculations (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has made is to play Trump. And you just watch, in the coming days and weeks, there's going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table." Also, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was due in Washington on Monday and Tuesday for talks with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as well as members of Congress. 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Russia has spread terror in Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, with hundreds of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles that Ukraine's air defences are struggling to counter. June brought the highest monthly civilian casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and 1343 wounded, the UN human rights mission in Ukraine said on Thursday. Russia launched 10 times more drones and missiles in June than in the same month in 2024, it said. That has happened at the same time as Russia's bigger army is making a new effort to drive back Ukrainian defenders on parts of the 1000km front line. A top ally of Trump, Republican senator Lindsey Graham, said on Sunday that the conflict was nearing an inflection point as Trump showed growing interest in helping Ukraine fight back against Russia's full-scale invasion. It's a cause that Trump had previously dismissed as being a waste of US taxpayer money. "In the coming days, you'll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves," Graham said on CBS's Face the Nation. "One of the biggest miscalculations (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has made is to play Trump. And you just watch, in the coming days and weeks, there's going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table." Also, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was due in Washington on Monday and Tuesday for talks with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as well as members of Congress. Talks during Kellogg's visit to Kyiv will cover "defence, strengthening security, weapons, sanctions, protection of our people and enhancing cooperation between Ukraine and the United States", said the head of Ukraine's presidential office, Andrii Yermak. "Russia does not want a ceasefire. Peace through strength is President Donald Trump's principle, and we support this approach," Yermak said. Russian troops conducted a combined aerial strike at Shostka, in the northern Sumy region of Ukraine, using glide bombs and drones early Monday morning, killing two people, the regional prosecutor's office said. Four others were injured, including a seven-year-old, it said. Overnight from Sunday to Monday, Russia fired four S-300/400 missiles and 136 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine, the air force said. It said that 61 drones were intercepted and 47 more were either jammed or lost from radars mid-flight. The Russian defence ministry, meanwhile, said its air defences downed 11 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions on the border with Ukraine, as well as over the annexed Crimea and the Black Sea. US President Donald Trump's special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired general Keith Kellogg, has arrived in Kyiv as anticipation grows over a possible shift in the Trump administration's policy on the more than three-year war. Trump last week teased that he would make a "major statement" on Russia on Monday. Trump made quickly stopping the war one of his diplomatic priorities, and he has increasingly expressed frustration about Russian President Vladimir Putin's unbudging stance on US-led peace efforts. Putin "talks nice and then he bombs everybody", Trump said late on Sunday as he confirmed the US was sending Ukraine badly needed US-made Patriot air defence missiles to help it fend off Russia's intensifying aerial attacks. Russia has spread terror in Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, with hundreds of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles that Ukraine's air defences are struggling to counter. June brought the highest monthly civilian casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and 1343 wounded, the UN human rights mission in Ukraine said on Thursday. Russia launched 10 times more drones and missiles in June than in the same month in 2024, it said. That has happened at the same time as Russia's bigger army is making a new effort to drive back Ukrainian defenders on parts of the 1000km front line. A top ally of Trump, Republican senator Lindsey Graham, said on Sunday that the conflict was nearing an inflection point as Trump showed growing interest in helping Ukraine fight back against Russia's full-scale invasion. It's a cause that Trump had previously dismissed as being a waste of US taxpayer money. "In the coming days, you'll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves," Graham said on CBS's Face the Nation. "One of the biggest miscalculations (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has made is to play Trump. And you just watch, in the coming days and weeks, there's going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table." Also, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was due in Washington on Monday and Tuesday for talks with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as well as members of Congress. Talks during Kellogg's visit to Kyiv will cover "defence, strengthening security, weapons, sanctions, protection of our people and enhancing cooperation between Ukraine and the United States", said the head of Ukraine's presidential office, Andrii Yermak. "Russia does not want a ceasefire. Peace through strength is President Donald Trump's principle, and we support this approach," Yermak said. Russian troops conducted a combined aerial strike at Shostka, in the northern Sumy region of Ukraine, using glide bombs and drones early Monday morning, killing two people, the regional prosecutor's office said. Four others were injured, including a seven-year-old, it said. Overnight from Sunday to Monday, Russia fired four S-300/400 missiles and 136 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine, the air force said. It said that 61 drones were intercepted and 47 more were either jammed or lost from radars mid-flight. The Russian defence ministry, meanwhile, said its air defences downed 11 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions on the border with Ukraine, as well as over the annexed Crimea and the Black Sea.
