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Australian Home Builder leaves Homeowner
07/16/2010

A family who’s living in Darwin may be obliged to pay twice for the construction of their new home after their home builder faded away before its completion.

The Australian Builder has left behind several other clients such as suppliers and other home builders in Australia in the project proposal, with tens of thousands of dollars due.

The cataclysm follows the flop of two other Territory construction companies and has sparked more calls for a home warranty insurance (HWI) scheme to protect homeowners when builders go ruined.

A 43 year old Australian, Chris Wilson, has paid $420,000 to an established Darwin construction company to build his home located at Rosebery. However, his family can’t move in because the home builder has left away before the the final certificate of occupancy was given. According to him, he can’t find the builder and didn’t receive returned calls for three weeks, though many homeowners are looking for him.

A supplier has even come and repossessed Mr Wilson’s tiles because the builder had not paid its bills. And other subcontractors won’t issue certification until their bills have been paid - so he may have to pay them before his family can move in.

In the list of registered practitioners, the home builder’s name is no longer included and its phone number is out of service.

According to Kezia Purick, Opposition housing spokeswoman, said the Government required to enact an HWI scheme without further delay.

”Families and businesses pay a huge price when building companies get into difficulty,” she said.

”The delays in its introduction have never been properly explained, but the Government should honour this election commitment as soon as possible.”

The Government is still considering at options for such a scheme.

Home warranty insurance may not help Mr Wilson yet, as it is not yet clear that his builder had become bankrupt.

Source: NT News