A couple have lost almost $1million – and are still paying body corporate fees – for a home they haven’t been able to live in for four years.
Sue, 67, and Gary, 71, bought a $486,000 apartment in Mascot Towers, in Sydney’s inner south, in March 2012, believing they would work for a few more years before settling into retirement in their new home.
But the couple were one of 132 families forced to evacuate the troubled tower after major cracks were discovered in a primary support beam in June 2019.
Now Sue and Gary are still working to try and recover retirement funds that have instead been spent on their now uninhabitable one-bedroom apartment.
‘Gary and I would love to be retired, but we are both still working over the Christmas period,’ Sue told Daily Mail .
‘We wanted to retire at 65.
Sue and Gary (pictured) bought a dream home they hoped to retire in. Instead, it has been a financial nightmare
Mascot Towers units was evacuated in June 2019 after cracks were found in the primary support structure and facade masonry
‘[But] we are still paying around $1,000 a month in strata fees [for Mascot Towers] while renting another property in Brisbane.’
Sue’s daughter Sally Prosser said her parents were left in an unimaginable situation.
‘You can’t live in it, you can’t sell it, they won’t fix it, no one is taking responsibility, but you still need to pay your strata fees and you still need to pay your mortgage,’ she said.
‘It’s wild.’
Under NSW law, major building defects are only covered under warranty for six years, and minor defects for two years, after the completion of a development.
Over the past four years, Mascot Towers homeowners have been forced to pay off their mortgages and pay strata costs for the defect-ridden building, on top of paying for the cost of living elsewhere.
Sue and Gary have lost more than $500,000 in direct costs (such as the purchase price, stamp duty and strata levies) and almost another half a million in estimated capital growth on their apartment.
Despite their ordeal, they consider themselves lucky compared to some of the other heartbreaking stories that have emerged from the building catastrophe.
‘There are lots of people in a similar situation and in a worse situation than us,’ they said.
‘People who had already retired and put everything into it. Single people on one income. Young families. People who had to declare bankruptcy.
‘And any pay out for them will be not enough for anyone to move on and get another mortgage to buy another house.’
Despite their ordeal, the couple said there are other fellow homeowners who are in far worse situations than them
Desperate to return home, owners initially raised money to take out a $22million loan to repair the foundations of the building – but despite $15million already having been spent, the apartment blocks are still unfit for reoccupation.
Now, with the building having been empty for the last four years, residents estimate they would need to fork out a further $25million for maintenance work.
Earlier this month, desperate homeowners made a last-ditch effort in the NSW Supreme Court to free themselves from the strata scheme, with 70 per cent of owners seeking to be able to sell the entire block for either demolition or repair.
However the legal bid – which was objected by the strata loan company and banks that held their mortgages – was rejected by the judge.
The NSW Government has been paying homeowners rental assistance – at a cost of $15million to tax payers – but there a calls for more to be done.
In the wake of the failed legal bid, the government this week proposed a new debt mitigation strategy which would allow homeowners to sell the apartments as individual lots, rather than as a block.
According to their calculations, price estimates for the smallest apartments sit as low as $133,500.
Under the proposal, third-party purchasers would make formal offers to all owners by February 15 next year and they would then be given two weeks to sign a contract of sale.
If the proposal goes ahead, the owners would no longer be liable to pay any further strata levies or debt – which is currently at $15.3million – and their rental assistance would end on June 30 next year.
Sue’s daughter Sally Prosser opened up about her parents’ plight in a now-viral TikTok video
However, for the scheme to proceed, at least 75 per cent of owners must agree to sell – and those who own their property outright or have significantly paid down their mortgage will lose any equity they have gained over the past four years.
The government is also seeking to have remaining debts waived for those still paying off mortgages.
But the compensation strategy is only a win for some.
‘People like my mum and Gary who have now paid off the mortgage will not receive any equity, let alone any of the thousands of dollars in strata payments that have essentially gone down the drain,’ Ms Prosser said.
‘It is so unfair.
‘The owners are being royally trucked over financially, not to mention emotionally and physically. The stories coming out are just heartbreaking.’
Ms Prosser – who shared her mother and step father’s plight in a now-viral TikTok video – said no one has taken responsibility for the botched building and the disaster has been treated as ‘just one of those unfortunate situations’.
‘The only brightside is that this sale might bring an end to this saga, but it’s just an absolutely heartbreaking story of regular people through no fault of their own being robbed of their homes and hundreds of thousands of dollars,’ Ms Prosser said.
‘They have been handed a s*** sandwich and have been asked to be thankful they have a sandwich.
‘What an absolute debacle.’
Ms Prosser has called on Premier Chris Minns to fulfil his Labor state election campaign promise to step in and help Mascot Towers owners.
Tenants were given just a few hours to evacuate over fears the building could collapse, after some forked out millions on the luxury units in Sydney’s south (pictured)
Premier Chris Minns has come under fire for failing to fulfil his election promise to help homeowners of Mascot Towers
She is not alone. In recent weeks, there has been growing pressure for Mr Minns to stay true to his word.
‘Chris Minns, campaigned alongside the Mascot Owners and told them and voters that he would partner with owners to remediate the building and allow them to safely return,’ Mascot Towers strata committee said in a news release last month.
‘He promised a loan or to act as guarantor for the loan to fix the building. Now that the owners are effectively prevented from selling the towers in a single sale, the government needs to finally deliver on its promise.’
Gary said the government should be held responsible as it is behind the legislation, which reduced builder’s warranty to six years to promote growth within the construction industry, which has led to this situation.
He believes that if builders knew a building was their responsibility for 20 years they would have a higher duty of care and complete constructions at a higher standard.
Sue said the proposal will fall short for some people as the buyer’s offers will not even cover their mortgage.
‘The phone call that would make a happy Christmas would be if the government paid them back their purchase price of the apartment,’ she said.
‘Not what it would be worth today – which would be far more than what the purchase price was when they bought it – and also give everybody back their stamp duty.
‘That would be at least something for them to go forward on.’
Daily Mail has contacted Mr Minns for comment.