I bought a brand new unit in this complex (the big 8-storey blue/white
complex opposits Woolloongabba Bus Station), it turned out to be JUST A
LEMON. Full of defects not just in my unit but many others, as well as
in the common property. The 'vendor'/'developer' is not following up
with the requests from myself and other unit owners to fix the
defects/problems, even that it is clearly their responsibility under
the property purchase contract.
Many owners found that the electricity main for their units was not
turned on at the switchboard, after settlement. If you call Energex
they would say it should be on according to their records. Owners then
had no choice but had to pay someone (either Energex or other licensed
electricians) to come to the building and switch it on. I leant this
issue prior to settlement of my unit. So on settlement day for my
purchase, I said I would not to pay the balance money if they didn't
switch the electricity on for my unit, and I luckily won. After I moved
in, another owner told me that she moved in and found that there was no
electricity, and had to use candles for a few days until she could get
the main in the switchboard turned on by someone at her own cost. She
was in tears for a few days while living in candle light.
Regarding other defects, many owners had to, again, pay with their
own money to engage tradies to fix them because the 'developer' would
not rectify them, and in many instances would not even respond to phone
messages and emails from the owners. Now the security intercom system
for the whole building is still not working, nearly three months after
settlement of the first unit in this building. Physical phone lines to
my unit are not connected, despite there are sockets on the walls. (my
neighbour had the same problem and had to pay Telstra $160 to fix).
When you buy a new property, the builder should have installed all
utility infrastructure including the physical phone line between the
house and the outside world (it's part of the construction works!), and
all you need to do is to call Telstra, Optus or any other phone company
to establish an account so you could make charged calls. Everyone has
been stressed and is so sick of the problems. There are altogether 270
units in this development! More than 200 set of owners cheated by the
developers (to date, some 40 units are still unsold).
Company searches revealed that the joint 'developers'/'vendors'
(three of them) are all shell companies, each with a few dollars of
capital. Directors of these companies are mostly in New Zealand and one
in the U.S. The design architect for the development was a director of
one of these companies, but he has pulled himself out of it some time
ago, and set up another company which became the 'project manager'.
However the architect was again not taking any responsibility even when
I spoke with him directly. How could it be 'not his problem' when he is
the director of the company who is the 'project manager' for the
development?
Now I have no choice but have to lodge a civil case to the court
for their not complying with the terms of the property purchase
contract, and complaints to the BSA, AIA, Board of Architects, etc. for
their incompetence and failure to comply with their Professional codes
of conduct. Hopefully it won't be too long before the statutory
authorities hand down judgements forcing the developer to comply and
fix all problems.