Mascot Towers apartment owners feel ‘fobbed off’ by Berejiklian government
Owners of units in Mascot Towers are “offended” by a statement from the office of Better Regulation which claimed it had evidence to suggest they devised a “deliberate strategy” to force the NSW government to foot a multimillion-dollar repair bill.
NSW
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Owners of units in Mascot Towers are “offended” by a statement from the office of Better Regulation Minister Kevin Anderson which claimed it had evidence to suggest they devised a “deliberate strategy” to force the NSW government to foot a multimillion-dollar repair bill.
“We find it upsetting and offensive in the extreme that Mr Anderson’s office — not the Minister himself — is claiming some sort of conspiracy by Mascot Towers owners,” a spokesman for the Owners Corporation said in a statement.
“There is no conspiracy and there is no strategy to force the Government to do anything other than stand up for residents who are facing a financial and personal nightmare through no fault of their own.”
Owners are facing massive levies of up to $14,000 a month to fix cracks in the defective building and yesterday said they felt “fobbed off” by the Berejiklian government regarding requests for a low-interest loan.
A spokesman for Mr Anderson yesterday said they had been told residents were “divided over the decision to pursue a special levy”.
They said the office had been told the special levy was a “deliberate strategy to make the repayments unserviceable for most owners in an attempt to force the government’s hand to pay for the remediation work”.
But the Owners Corporation spokesman slammed those remarks as “heartless and unnecessary and with no basis in fact.”
“Whoever made them in Mr Anderson’s office should apologise and the Minister should clarify immediately that he doesn’t share the views reported today from his Office,” they said.
Four owners were left “disappointed” after attending Question Time at state parliament yesterday where the Premier and Mr Anderson dodged questions from Labor about whether they would provide low-interest loans to residents.
Residents were forced to flee the decade-old building in June when cracks were discovered in the basement — they are still unable to return.
Owners last month voted to pay a $7 million special levy to fund remediation work at an Extraordinary General Meeting.
But the vote was not unanimous and many say they are now facing financial ruin.
Four stages of works have been identified and the first stage alone will cost owners between $5000 and $14,000 each month for the next nine months, starting from next week.
A spokesman for Mr Anderson said they had been told residents were “divided over the decision to pursue a special levy”.
They said the office had been told the special levy was a “deliberate strategy to make the repayments unserviceable for most owners in an attempt to force the government’s hand to pay for the remediation work”.
One owner, Brian Tucker, said he felt “fobbed off” by the responses from the government concerning the request for a low-interest loan.
He also insisted it was “simply not true” that owners had devised a scheme to manipulate taxpayers.
“Our monthly special levy was $12,000 so how do you come up with that money for nine months in a row?” he said.
“We can’t borrow money from banks because they won’t lend it … you couldn’t think of a worse nightmare to be in.”
“Through no fault of our own we’ve been placed in this situation and it’s just so depressing and so upsetting as you can see, it’s just really gut-wrenching.”
Another owner, Kasumi Kitano, is facing a repair bill of $8000 every month.
Asked about her greatest concern, she said: “I will be never able to pay the special levy and will never be able to go back home, never be able to explain to my child.”
Owner Roslyn Lean thought she was close to retirement but will now be forced to sacrifice more than 50 per cent of her savings on the repairs, which are slated to cost her $6700 each month.
The NSW government has extended an emergency assistance package to reimburse residents’ temporary accommodation costs but owners are still facing bankruptcy over the repairs.
Labor’s building reform spokeswoman Yasmin Catley said the situation was unacceptable given the Building Commissioner had flagged low-interest loans as one solution to the crisis weeks ago at a public inquiry.
“The government needs to do the right thing here,” she said.
“These people are not asking for a handout, they’re actually just asking for some help.”
Mr Anderson implored insurance companies to release money from claims during Question Time but Mr Tucker said that was unlikely to eventuate “in the near future”.
“The NSW Government has been working closely with the owners, strata manager and building manager of Mascot Towers since the night of the evacuation to provide advice and financial support,” he said in a statement.
“Concerns have been raised with NSW Fair Trading by a number of owners in relation to financial decisions agreed to at the Extraordinary General Meeting.”
“It is unclear why a strata loan payable and levied over 15 years, was rejected in favour of a payment term of 9 months, especially given the immediate subsequent advice from the owners corporation that a large number of owners would be unable to meet this obligation.”