Coast to Coast Homes ‘never told’ Mt Barker Council it was building properties in a Mt Barker subdivision, in breach of Development Act

The Mt Barker Council was “never told” that a now-failed builder was building homes in a subdivision — with many of the properties still not completed.

Coast to Coast Homes built houses in a Mt Barker subdivision without telling the council or providing proof of insurance, says the authority — which never inspected the townhouse construction.

The company was part way through building 10 two-storey townhouses on the corner of Albert Place and Hack St, when it was placed in liquidation last month leaving 98 customers statewide in the lurch and a $3.7 million trail of debt.

A handful of residents moved into the Mt Barker townhouses this year, with others at various stages of construction.

Mt Barker Council’s acting general manager planning and development Marc Voortman said the council was not notified, as legally required under the Development Act, at any stage of the building process.

“Council hasn’t undertaken any building inspections for the 10 units as no (legal) notification were received,” he said of the subdivision approved via private certifier in January 2017.

Legally builders must give a council a day’s notice of various stages of construction, including starting building work, undertaking structural reinforcement for concrete footings, and installing roof framing.

Failure to do so carries fines of up to $10,000.

Mt Barker Council says it never conducted building inspections of these properties that were being built by Coast to Coast Homes. Picture: Renato Castello

Prior to construction of domestic projects costing more than $12,000 and which require council approval, a builder must also obtain building indemnity insurance on behalf of the homeowner for each contract.

That certificate of insurance must be supplied to council before work has started.

Mr Voortman said only four insurance certificates for Coast to Coast were received with building rules certification.

He said it was council’s process to follow up outstanding insurance certificates when the council was notified that construction had started.

“Moving forward, Mount Barker District Council is available to land owners for any inquiries, is inspecting the sites and will actively pursue receipt of building indemnity insurance with any builder who finalises the project,” he said.

Nicole Ferguson inside her Mt Barker townhouse which is among dozens of properties left unfinished following the collapse of Coast to Coast Homes. Picture: Tait Schmaal

Investors in the townhouse block, Ian Marston and Nicole Ferguson, told The Advertiser that Coast to Coast Homes took out insurance polices against their partially completed properties last month, just prior to liquidation.

Ms Ferguson’s house said construction of her house started a year ago.

Coast to Coast liquidators Clifton Hall told The Advertiser this month that they could not locate insurance policies for two houses across SA that the company was building or had built.

The paper has attempted to contact representatives of Coast to Coast Homes.

A meeting of creditors and homeowners of will be held on Tuesday.