Privium collapse leaves customers with unfinished homes and massive debt

What was supposed to be a five-month build has turned into a two-year nightmare for a Birkdale family after the dramatic collapse of Queensland building giant Privium.

Homeowners scorned by the collapse of Queensland building firm Privium are in a “living nightmare” five months after the company’s demise.

Privium, which was once one of the largest home builders in the country, went into liquidation in December last year, leaving 890 homes unfinished and debts in excess of $80m.

The company had less than $400 in the bank after founder Rob Harder called in voluntary administrators in November last year leaving homeowners in the lurch across Queensland, Victoria and NSW.

Annie Solomon and her family were one of the unlucky ones who now still have an empty plot of land in Birkdale after signing a contract with the now-disgraced company back in January 2021.

The land that Annie Solomon and her family have now been waiting over a year to build on. Picture: Annie Solomon.

After signing with Privium, the couple knocked down their current home and moved into a rental for the remaining months before their estimated move in date in October 2021.

But at the end of the year, Privium had collapsed before they had even started construction, leaving the couple in the dark, and without their 5 per cent deposit worth $12,000.

“The lack of compassion that came from Privium was overwhelming. There was never any sincerity from them,” she said.

Privium founder Rob Harder. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Ms Solomon said she had hired a lawyer for $1,000, adding to the overall expenses, to get their deposit back.

But now, after months of organising a new builder, they were firmly back to square one.

“We’ve started completely from scratch again. It’s just been a living nightmare, it’s no longer an exciting process,” she said.

“We’ve had to reapply for all the mortgages again and do all the financials. It still has to go through all the approvals and the build is going to cost us so much more now as well with the current prices,” she said.

With a growing backlog, the new build won’t start until July, with an estimated finish in December making it just shy of two years since the start of their building process.

Former Privium customer Annie Solomon and her family have been waiting

While morale is low, so are the funds with Ms Solomon saying her family had to fork out an additional $90,000 for the build as prices skyrocket, as well as $25,000 for rent that wasn’t in the budget, on top of rates and mortgage costs on the land they haven’t been able live on yet.

Since last month, the Queensland Building and Construction Commission had received 126 claims – of which 120 of those were refund of deposit and six were non-completion claims.

This meant more than $1.5 million is back in the pockets of Privium customers who made refund of deposit claims.

“The QBCC stuff happened pretty quickly. With our lawyer as well we got our deposit back but there were just so many more costs,” she said.

Administrators took over Privium Homes. Privium HQ: Compton House 54-66. Pics Adam Head

Ms Solomon said she “couldn’t believe” her luck when she got the email from Privium late last year saying the build was put on hold “indefinitely”.

But now she’s now found comfort in community groups of former customers sharing similar stories.

“The liquidation wasn’t where our story ended. We’ve still got so much more hard work ahead of us,” she said.

“We saved for eight years to get this deal. I think they just don’t get that these are lives, not just homes.”

According to documents lodged with ASIC by liquidator FTI Consulting, Privium owes more than $80m, much of it in the form of loans to related entities in the group.

The Privium Group – including Privium Assets, Privium Investments and Privium Civil – is owed more than $47m in loans.

The company had 890 homes around the country that were either under construction or in the preconstruction phase.

Privium, which did not file its financial accounts for the most recent financial year, reported a $28m loss in the 2019-2020 financial year and paid more than $22m in dividends.