They thought they had bought land to build their dream homes. It all ended up in court

Purchasers of 154 blocks of land at Marsden Park in Sydney’s north-west will receive $100,000 each in compensation, as well as have their deposits and stamp duty refunded, under a settlement offer in a multimillion-dollar class action.

In 2020 and 2021, at the height of COVID-19, the buyers, predominantly families, signed contracts worth between $600,000 and $700,000 per block at Clydesdale Estate, nestled off Richmond Road.

Each block was secured with a 10 per cent down payment, plus full stamp duty of about $30,000.

Purchasers bought the blocks of land from Chinese-owned developer Boyuan Holdings Limited (BHL) and its sister company Cyan Stone, atop a web of holding companies.

As the years passed, and property values boomed, the development was delayed and the lots were never handed over to the purchasers.

Ownership passed to a company called Astro Fort, which then put the blocks back on the market without informing the contract holders, who found out they were for sale when real estate ads began appearing online.

The settlement comes after an investigation by this masthead and A Current Affair last year revealed the complex series of dealings that left the families in limbo for five years.

The deal to transfer the lots to Astro Fort in 2024 was funded by Ray White Capital (RWC), which was founded by Dan White.

RWC said the project had been a disaster for 3½ years, citing weather, cost overruns, COVID-19 and “the discovery of asbestos and waste contamination in the soil”.

The blocks were put back on the market for between $1 million and $1.1 million, an increase of more than $400,000 per block.

For example, health worker Madhuri Bakshi’s $620,000 block was being offered for sale under a new lot number for $1.097 million.

Madhuri Bakshi has paid her deposit and waited almost four years for her land to be handed over.Credit: Rhett Wyman

“It was heartbreaking when I saw it was back on the market for half a million more. First of all, I can’t believe it can happen. I’m just heartbroken. It’s a rip-off,” she said at the time.

If the new prices are realised, Clydesdale lots will be sold for a total of about $150 million, or $60 million more than they were four years ago, by BHL and Cyan Stone.

Some of the same real estate agencies that sold the blocks originally were selling them again.

The buyers launched a class action in the Federal Court to prevent the resale of land they held contracts on, and sought compensation for lost capital gain.

Cyan Stone voluntarily liquidated itself in early September 2024, and every purchaser in Clydesdale had their full deposits placed on a list of unsecured creditors by liquidator Stephen Helm of Helm Advisory, despite their deposits being held in a solicitor’s trust.

The deposits total $9 million.

The Helm Advisory report sent to the stunned investors on September 17 shows much of the Cyan Stone debt was owed to itself.

Cyan Stone Clydesdale Estate 3 Pty Ltd has debts of $40,209,644, and assets of $289,608, but the two major creditors are Cyan Stone Finance Ltd, which is owed $6,789,546, and Cyan Stone Pty Ltd (in liquidation), which is owed $19,338,662.

The class action lawsuit was filed in the Federal Court on behalf of the purchasers by William Roberts Lawyers against Astro Fort and the Cyan Stone group of companies.

During weeks of mediation in March, Astro Fort agreed to settle. Cyan Stone, in liquidation, has not been defending the case.

In a preliminary hearing, Federal Court Judge Ian Jackman expressed a view that the plaintiff’s argument that Astro Fort and others engaged in an inducement to breach a contract did not appear to have “any obvious legal flaw”.

“At some stage, and certainly during the mediation, the Astro Fort parties are going to have to give consideration to whether the claim in that form is one which is supported in legal principle, and whether the evidence is likely to bear it out,” Jackman said.

Jackman’s decision on whether to approve the settlement is expected later this month.

The settlement document outlines two choices for the original purchasers – a cash payout, believed to be about $100,000, or the equivalent discount off the new purchase price of the block.

The exact amount had been redacted from the document.

Original owners who are a party to the class action are subject to a non-disclosure clause.

Many of the buyers spoken to by the Herald remain upset, saying they have lost a lot of capital gain and that the cost of building houses had skyrocketed while they remained in limbo.

But one, who is prevented from speaking publicly due to the non-disclosure clause, said: “At least we’re getting a six-figure payout, minus legal fees, when just a few months ago we had lost the lot. I honestly thought we’d get nothing and had written it off.”

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