IT would appear that Mr Chandler has not yet made any official recommendations on the historical defects problem … is that because there are just so many of them?
… however he has on the issue of flammable cladding.
Buyer beware: Building tsar’s warning over faulty units
The man hand-picked by the Berejiklian government to tackle Sydney’s defective apartment crisis has declared regular homebuyers need to take more responsibility for inspections and adopt a “buyer beware” mindset.
Anna Caldwell, State Political Editor, The Daily Telegraph|
October 29, 2019
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The man hand-picked by the Berejiklian government to tackle Sydney’s defective apartment crisis has declared regular homebuyers need to take more responsibility for inspections and adopt a “buyer beware” mindset.
Building Commissioner David Chandler made the remarks as he revealed he has identified another 200-apartment building last week which had “significant issues” and was “incomplete” despite being certified for occupancy, and that there were “at least another two” buildings like it.
Mr Chandler was appointed this year to restore confidence in the building and construction industry after hundreds of people had to be evacuated from defective or risky apartments in the Mascot and Opal Towers and other buildings were identified as unfit for occupancy.
Mr Chandler said last night under a state parliament estimates grilling that people “should go and spend a little bit more time having a look (at their apartment) before they settle”.
He said one of his priorities was to find a way to tackle the defective building problems from “the front end” rather than waiting for owners to move into bad apartments.
*He also conceded he had not yet made any official recommendations on the historical defects problem, but had on the issue of flammable cladding.
*Mr Chandler told the hearing he would “be quite confident to buy an off the plan apartment” in Sydney “if people were prepared to do a little bit of research to work out who might be risky and who’s less risky”.
He said “there are 60 or 70 per cent of developers building an entirely high quality product”.
The comments were described as “remarkable” by Labor MP Courtney Houssos who pursued Mr Chandler with relentless questions, asking him if his “advice is that homeowners become experts themselves?” and whether there was a role for government to regulate.
Mr Chandler said there was a “role for everyone to do what would be appropriate”.
“If I was in the market for a $750,000 apartment I would certainly be looking at who was the builder and I would certainly be wanting to have a better look at the apartment and the building before I settled,” he said.
“We can risk assess the market and we can get out and look at complaints but everyone should have a hand in a little bit of buyer beware.”
Ms Houssos said that Mr Chandler’s implication was that owners in places like Mascot Towers had not done their due diligence but Mr Chandler said he wouldn’t testify on whether those owners had done due diligence.
Mr Chandler said that of the project he’d visited last week, of the 200 people who had settled “only one owner took it upon themselves to inspect the property and that party refused to settle”.
A government spokesman last night confirmed the building in question was currently occupied and did not require evacuation, but would not reveal its location.
Labor MP Daniel Mookhey said: “I would have thought the consumer in NSW would expect the government to regulate so that the product served up (is acceptable)”.
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