Waverley Residences to be placed on market, buyer contracts void in wake of Descon Group collapse

Contracts for more than 60 apartments in a Gold Coast development have been torn up, leaving “heartbroken” buyers buyers without their long-awaited homes. Read how it happened

Contracts for more than 60 apartments in a Southport development have been torn up, leaving “heartbroken” buyers without their long-awaited homes.

Receivers of Waverley Residences, whose builder Descon Group Australia went into liquidation in May, told buyers the unfinished project would be sold “as is, where is” and their contracts would be voided after more than three years of uncertainty.

Although deposits will be returned, many buyers signed up in 2021 and were in the market for apartments under $600,000 – a rare if impossible find in 2024.

Luke Hill was a first home buyer in the unfinished Descon's Waverley Residences at Southport. Picture Glenn Hampson

Among them is medical professional Eliza Parker, 27, whose hopes of buying her first home have been dashed.

“I’m heartbroken, it’s just three years down the drain,” she said.

“It’s really sad and really unfair that this can happen.

“I looked on realestate.com.au last night to see if there was anything I can afford and there’s just nothing.”

Tempering the disappointment is fury that the collapsed builder’s director, Danny Isaac, was given a Queensland builder licence, and was allowed to be a company director, while he was still an undischarged bankrupt.

Mr Isaac, whose bankruptcy under a former name has since been discharged, is also a director of the developer in receivership, Busikon Group.

He’s spent the past year in Dubai as liquidators pick through his nest of failed companies, which have reported debts of more than $390 million between them.

“How was this allowed to happen?” Ms Parker said.

“That’s what’s annoying to me.

“It’s unacceptable that this has happened to innocent people and I just feel so sorry for everyone who’s been a victim of it.”

Eliza Parker at the site of the incomplete apartment building at Waverley Residences. Picture: John Gass

Waverley was originally due for completion in May 2022, but was plagued by repeated delays and price increases before the eventual liquidation of Descon and receivership of Busikon.

In a letter to off-plan buyers late on Wednesday, receiver Daniel Walley of PricewaterhouseCoopers said contracts in Waverley would not be honoured.

The letter said lender Austar Finance had examined its options for completing the build and found the cost of doing so would not cover what it had already loaned the developer.

“The property will shortly be placed on the market for sale on an ‘as is where is’ basis, free of any claimed encumbrance or interest of any purchaser under Presale Contracts,” the letter said.

The Gold Coast Bulletin has contacted the receivers for comment.