Treacy left Mascot Towers four years ago. Now she’s $1m in debt and has brain tumours

Desperate apartment owners in Sydney’s notorious Mascot Towers are appealing for the state government to buy their defect-riddled building after the NSW Supreme Court slammed shut the gate on their last-ditch exit strategy.

The residents had applied for permission to wind up the strata scheme so a liquidator could conduct a collective sale of the two towers to another developer who could knock them down or repair them for resale.

Mascot Towers residents Treacy Sheehan, Anthony Najafian and Alex Chan, outside the Mascot Tower apartments.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

But the court ruled out the proposal and have left owners now with few options. “We’ve exhausted plans B, C, D, and E, and we just don’t have anywhere left to go,” said one of the owners, father-of-one IT specialist Anthony Najafian, 42. “We’re all so traumatised.

“Every day, my daughter’s eyes fill with tears when she hears my voice tremble with the anguish. We feel we’re being suffocated by this terrible situation. And sometimes I have to wonder whether the pain of living is greater than the pain of saying goodbye to my loved ones and ending it all. We can’t go on like this.”

It’s been 4½ years since the residents of the 11-year-old building in Mascot, near Sydney Airport, were suddenly evacuated because of cracking in the walls. Since then, their developer went into liquidation and they have all been living in rental accommodation as their debts from legal action against developers and extra strata levies have continued to mount.

The failure of their last-ditch court bid to escape the nightmare now means there’s no end in sight to the agony. “The government has to help us,” said Treacy Sheehan, the mother of six-year-old Eamon, who was just 2½ when he was carried from the building in the middle of the night.

“Our lives have now been on hold for 4½ years and all through no fault of our own. All we did was buy an apartment as we trusted the government had all its safeguards in place. I’m now $1 million in debt and [I’ve] been diagnosed with brain tumours. The stress is incredible. People have died because of this.”

Residents say there have been at least two suicides among the community as a result of the situation, and a mounting toll of mental health issues, as well as family break-ups and bankruptcies.

Alex Chan, 49, a university lecturer in nursing, is also calling for the government to bail out owners. “It’s the only solution that’s now left,” he said. “There’s nothing else we can do, as we can’t even sell the building.

“The government has to buy back the building and reduce our suffering. It’s gone on for years now and it’s still going. It’s torture and many of us can’t take much more.”

Mascot Towers residents hope the government will step in to help.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos

The owners have won the backing of a number of industry experts too in their mission. Lawyer Stephen Goddard from Goddard & Co Solicitors said the government now had to act. “The state government failed to discharge its public duty to Mascot Towers,” he said. “It didn’t enforce the building code, and now it needs to assume responsibility for the situation.

“The owners are in a state of catastrophic breakdown and they don’t know how they’re ever going to pay the banks back. The responsibility has to be sheeted back to the government as they’re ultimately responsible for not delivering the building code. It’s a breach of public duty and it’s an absolute scandal.”

NSW Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading Anoulack Chanthivong said the court’s ruling will be disappointing for owners who want to move on.

“I’ve asked the building commissioner to continue working with owners, their banks and their lenders to find a resolution,” he said.

“It is crucial lenders and the banks come to the table to speed up this process and deliver closure.”

Justice Elisabeth Peden ruled in the NSW Supreme Court that the owners of the 131 units wouldn’t be allowed to wind up the strata scheme, an action which had been contested by the building’s major creditor, strata loan company Lannock Strata Finance, while the banks who provided mortgages said they should be paid first from any termination.

A Lannock spokesperson said it was a terrible situation. “The lot owners have found themselves in a desperate situation and we’d all like to see an outcome that solves their problems as best it can,” he said. “We are continuing to work with the NSW building commissioner David Chandler to find a solution.”

The apartment owners’ peak organisation, the Owners Corporation Network (OCN), is also calling for action. Executive director Karen Stiles said: “The OCN has sadly witnessed the four-and-a-half-year Mascot Towers debacle, caused by wholesale regulatory failure.

Residents had to evacuate Mascot Towers in mid-2019.Credit: Janie Barrett

“These people did nothing more than buy a home and a dream. We hope that the new powers endowed on the building commissioner will bring this death by a thousand cuts to a swift, and fair, conclusion for these innocent purchasers.”

But for those still trapped in the debacle, the misery and anger just won’t go away. “It’s coming up to five years now, and it’s been like a jail sentence,” said Najafian. “We’ve all made so many sacrifices – we wanted a second child but didn’t feel we could bring one into this situation – and so many have suffered mentally, emotionally, financially and legally.

“No one can move on. Everyone’s lives are on pause. We have a deep, deep sadness and an anger at how royally we’ve been screwed. Now we’re all worried our kids will take on the debts. We’ve lost everything – our homes and our life savings and, for some, the will to carry on. We just need justice, and closure.”

If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline on 131 114 or Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636.

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