Wanted developer Jean Nassif left $15 million bill to remove combustible cladding from tower
Disgraced property developer Jean Nassif left families a $15 million bill to remove dangerous combustible cladding on a Western Sydney high-rise before doing a runner.
NSW
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Disgraced property developer Jean Nassif left families a $15 million bill to remove dangerous combustible cladding on a Western Sydney high-rise before doing a runner.
The Saturday Telegraph can reveal Nassif’s Toplace was ordered by the Federal Court to pay for the remediation of highly combustible cladding at 29 Hunter St, Parramatta in a Federal Court of Appeal decision after disappearing owing $1.882bn to 600 creditors.
In May last year the Court of Appeal handed down a judgment ordering Toplace to pay for replacing the cladding on the building after homeowners fought for “years” for Nassif to cover the expenses.
The Court’s findings stated Nassif and Toplace “breached their statutory warranties owed to the owners corporation by handing over a building that had cladding on it that was not compliant with the requirements of the Building Code of Australia.”
Hunter St apartment owner Ankit Gupta has revealed the state government has ordered the owner’s corporation to “undertake a loan to pay the $15 million fee for the removal of the combustible cladding”.
“The state government conducted a combustible cladding remediation program, which requires us to now remove this cladding, but there is no protections offered to us with Nassif fleeing the country,” he said.
“The government is expecting 133 owners to take a loan and pay this for the rest of their life. We fought Nassif for close to seven years to remediate these defects. But now he is on the run and the entire building is covered in highly combustible cladding.”
The desperate homeowner revealed Project Remediate has now revised remediation costs to upwards of $18m, as he said insurance premiums had increased to $3500 per quarter as dozens of homeowners are defaulting on payments.
Jean Nassif flaunts lavish Lebanese lifestyle as Sydney Toplace empire collapses
“The state government has put us in a situation where we have to foot this bill, despite the fact that this was the fault of a lack of regulation around combustible cladding,” he said.
“No one will insure the building, we can’t afford to sell and get out, and we can’t afford to remediate the defects.”
The Sunday Telegraph revealed the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption and all-powerful NSW Crime Commission are investigating the wanted man and his business dealings in October.
A spokesman for the NSW Building Commission said a notice of intention to issue a fire safety order to remediate the cladding at 29 Hunter St, Parramatta was issued by Parramatta Council in 2022.
“Project Remediate is a voluntary program to assist eligible owners corporations to remediate flammable cladding on their building facades,” he said. “Owners corporations must opt in to access support including interest free loans.
“Any repayments on the interest free loan provided through Project Remediate do not commence until 90 days after recladding is complete which due to its size, will take an estimated 18 months.”
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Originally published as Wanted developer Jean Nassif left $15 million bill to remove combustible cladding from tower
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