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Under the terms of the new deal, with $280,000 left to pay on his mortgage, the government has offered him $261,000 with the bank giving him a discount of $19,000 on the debt. He’ll walk away from his apartment – with a bank valuation of $900,000 – with absolutely nothing.
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“So I’ll have no mortgage but also no property and no money,” he said. “After paying out for all those years, my hopes and dreams and inheritance will have all turned to dust. This is a terrible situation which is wrecking people’s lives.
“I’m beyond angry. To think the consortium that’s buying the building will be able to remediate it and then make a profit out of people’s suffering is appalling, and to think that someone new will end up living in my apartment instead of me … It’s absolutely gut-wrenching.”
Better Regulation and Fair Trading Minister Anoulack Chanthivong said Mascot Towers’ owners had themselves decided to ditch the remediation plan in favour of selling the building – a scheme later scotched by the NSW Supreme Court, which put the likely cost at $21.5 million.
“Mascot Towers’ owners have spent half a decade stuck in this mess, that’s why one of the first actions I took in government was to start working with them and the building commission to find a solution,” Chanthivong said. “It’s no surprise that the owners’ corporation made the choice to apply to end the strata scheme and sell the building rather than to pursue remediation.
“The resolution I’ve directed the building commissioner to find is likely to be the last chance Mascot Towers owners will have to make a decision for themselves rather than having it dictated by courts or the owners’ corporation.”
Derek and Rachel Williams will walk away with nothing. Credit: Louise Kennerley
But Williams argues that when the proposal to sell the building was outlawed, most owners expected to return to Plan A – to remediate themselves.
“It’s the ultimate betrayal in that they promised while in opposition to help us remediate our building, but as soon as they were elected, there’s been nothing of the sort.”
His wife Rachel Williams, 52, said the “broken election promise” had left her infuriated and said the Minns government had “completely failed us”.
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But Chanthivong said the deal had been carefully prepared to help those most in need and described the situation as “extraordinary and exceptional”.
“This is taxpayer money, so of course, the final support package has been carefully prioritised to focus on the most vulnerable owners.”
However, investor owners who don’t qualify for assistance under a means-tested package are also angry they’re being left “high and dry” with the government promises “not worth the paper they were written on”.
Single mum Nicky Elderton, 42, said she bought her one-bedroom apartment in Mascot Towers in 2009 and lived there until she had the first of her three children, now aged 11. She then moved to a bigger unit elsewhere but kept the original as an investment.
Two months before the evacuation, the unit was valued at $750,000. After refinancing and drawing downs, she owes $690,000 on the loan and has been offered $167,400 for it.
“I’m a mum-and-dad investor; I’m not a big corporate investor who can afford things like this,” Elderton said.
“I’m now working with Lifeline Australia to try to negotiate with the banks, but it looks like I will lose everything. I’ve cried my eyes out at every meeting, but the government refuses to listen.”
Strata lawyer Stephen Goddard said the government deal varied between owners, with some left with debts, some having debts cancelled, and everyone coming out badly.
“I believe the state government has let people down,” he said. It should have acquired the building and effectively demolished it because of its toxic reputation, reconstructed the site, sold it, and reimbursed the owners with the revenue. Instead, it’s been asleep at the wheel, and disaster has ensued.”
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