Privium victims face homelessness and financial pain as Torsion upgrades QBCC licence

Homelessness, anger and fear for the future haunt would-be homeowners in the wake of the Privium collapse.

Hundreds of Queenslanders who signed contracts with Privium Group to build new homes are reeling after the construction giant went into voluntary administration with many facing homelessness.

A single mother from Hervey Bay, who has been “couch surfing” for the past seven months after delays held up the start of the construction of her dream four-bedroom home, said she may not have a roof over her head for Christmas.

The woman, who did not want to be named, said she signed the contract Privium on October 2020, but they did not start building until April this year.

“It’s been an absolute nightmare. I can’t sleep and it’s been a strain on my mental health,” she said.

“I couldn’t afford the rent and pay a mortgage interest and rates at the same time so had to give up my rented house and I’ve been staying with friends.

“They started building the house in April and it was supposed to be finished in October but it’s not and I can’t live there because it has plumbing and other issues.

“I want to be in there by Christmas because the people I’m staying with have family coming so I will be homeless and there’s nowhere to stay. I may have to move into the house and live in a tent and the neighbour said if it came to that I can use her facilities.”

Privium leaves more than 166 unfinished homes in Queensland.

She said her home has been transferred to Torsion Pty Ltd who Privium handed its Queensland workbook of more than 160 Queensland builds.

They have had their licence upgraded to a Category 3 by the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) which will allow them to take on more work.

The QBCC’s said Torsion had met their financial requirements to permit them to upgrade which allows for a maximum revenue between $12m and $30m.

The Brisbane headquarter’s Privium Homes. Picture: Adam Head

Annie and Raf Solomon last year knocked down their existing home at Birkdale in Brisbane’s bayside suburbs to make way for a new house that was supposed to be built by Privium.

But almost a year after signing a contract and paying a $12,000 deposit, they are still living in rental accommodation and desperately trying to locate another builder.

“There were constant delays from the builder and they just did not return phone calls,” said Ms Solomon, who has two young children.

“We were supposed to be in the house by now. Our dog has had to be housed away from us during this whole time because we are in a unit.”

Ms Solomon said the best the QBCC could do when the couple contacted them was to advise them to seek legal advice.

Annie and Raf Solomon Ryder who have been waiting for a year for their house to be built after troubled builder Privium walked away.

On Facebook Nicci said: “We are (or is it were??) building with Impact homes but thankfully we haven’t started as yet. Awaiting on building permit approval but haven’t heard a word from them at all. No idea what to do right now. Look for another builder??”

Mother of one Tracey Grljak said they moved into their dream home in a new Jimboomba housing estate, south of Brisbane, eight months ago.

However, the Privium built house has plumbing issues, a cracked driveway and plaster falling off walls with a repair bill potentially mounting into the thousands.

Ms Grljak said up to five neighbours have similar issues with their Privium built home.

“They (Privium) came out to do an inspection and said they would send a plumber out,” she said.

“I called the plumber when they didn’t come and they said everything was on hold. I’ve lodged all the paperwork with QBCC so it’s a waiting game now.

“We don’t know whether we will have to pay for it out of our own pocket or not.”

Privium Homes CEO Rob Harder. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Privium on Wednesday appointed John Park, Joanne Dunn, and Kelly Trenfield, of FTI Consulting, as voluntary administrators over a number of companies in the group.

They were not able to comment on the arrangement with Torsion.

Torsion general manager Darryl Hopkins said most of Privium’s Queensland clients have been in contact with them and they were increase staffing levels.

“To date, we’ve taken over 166 uncompleted builds. Now that Privium has gone into administration, we can unfortunately no longer help any clients who chose not to transfer their builds across to us,” he said.

“We are and have always been a well-funded business. But I’d like to make it clear that we’re not in this for profit, we’re in this to support the hundreds of families who would have been left with uncompleted homes if we didn’t step in.

“We consulted our accountants and lawyers at length to ensure we were in a position to support these families through the completion of their builds and not let them down.”