THE brother of the very well-known developer Jean Nassif … Sarkis Nassif … ‘if there is one thing Sarkis Nassif hates, it’s being compared with his brother!’
Sarkis is richer … hasn’t been busted for cocaine possession … nor the subject of spoof online videos about a yellow Lamborghini …
‘He’s gone on to make a hell of a lot of money turning Parramatta, MEADOWBANK, Burwood and Auburn into high-density neighbourhoods.’
Within the industry insiders say “he’s very well regarded and seen as decent to do business with”.
HOWEVER in July 2019 two Ryde apartment blocks built by Holdmark were issued with orders over concerns they had combustible cladding.
AND now as reported by Ben Pike in ‘Holdmark Property Group’s Meadowbank apartment “defective” ‘ the Holdmark Property Group is accused of failing to fix significant defects at its 250 apartment Meadowbank development project 14 months after residents moved in …
Rod Jackson and fellow owners fear they could face enormous repair bills despite only having moved in a little over 12 months and a warranty period of six years!
Mr Jackson in 2018 bought a two-bedroom apartment off the plan for $970,000 claims Holdmark has failed to fix rotting gyprock walls, leaking lifts, glue bleeding out of the external stairs, crumbling sandstone walls and a central water fountain that remains closed.
‘The defects are so bad NSW Builder Commissioner David Chandler has personally stepped in to try and help desperate residents get the problems fixed.
CAAN Photo from our ‘Godzillas with execessive Footprints’ report: Holdmark’s Nancarrow Avenue, Meadowbank development.
“These defects are a direct consequence of poor tradesmanship and shoddy building practice,” Mr Jackson said.
Further, a 10m wall on Nancarrow Ave will soon collapse without some serious rectification.
-a staircase with its wall collapsing with movement
WHY is it that the home owners believe they will have to wear the cost of demolition and reconstruction of the wall?
‘A structural engineer, who did not want to be named, said “there might be some localised risk of dislodgement of small pieces of block or render — which even small pieces can be very dangerous falling from a height”.’
The Sunday Telegraph obtained a copy of the strata committee’s annual general meeting held in January which reveals the owners have had to engage lawyers to get Holdmark to fix the defects with a 20% strata fee increase to initiate legal proceedings
CAAN Photo: the wall referred to above is next to this apartment development at 6 Nancarrow Avenue, Meadowbank.
Meanwhile the NSW Fair Trading Commissioner has assigned a case manager for the matter to assist these home owners. The Building Commissioner, David Chandler has got a commitment from Mr Nassif to attend to the concerns
Holdmark was provided with a list of questions including why so many Harvard building apartments owned by the company remain empty.
PERHAPS CAAN can answer that question … because it is a consequence, no doubt, of the FIRB Ruling allowing developers like Holdmark to sell up to 100% of ‘new homes’ to foreign buyers who can park their money in Australia’s domestic real estate, and leave them vacant
Foreign buyers can also launder ‘black money’ in residential property because the Real Estate Gatekeepers are exempt from Anti-Money Laundering Laws (Morrison Govt October 2018)
*WHY not share to let others know? SEARCH CAAN Website for reports on these matters … *
The Harvard Building Apartment Owners were fobbed off with the reply:
“As the building you refer to has been handed over to the Body Corporate Association, your questions should be sent directly to them for comment,” the spokeswoman said.
“Holdmark is absolutely committed to maintaining an ongoing association with the body corporate for the building during the statutory warranty period.“
AND that Holdmark would continue to work with the body corporate and strata manager to resolve any issue brought to their attention.
IS that good enough? WHY should owners not only at Holdmark’s Meadowbank development but home owners across the board ‘face financial ruin’ from defective work? For two-bed homes close on $1M?
ASK why are the Building Commissioner’s powers are so limited? Cough … cough …
A 2012 study by City Futures surveyed 1,020 strata owners across NSW, and found 72% of all respondents (85% in buildings built since 2000) knew of at least one significant defect in their complex.
A damning 2015 report from Engineers Australia found that 85% of new strata units were defective on completion and the certification system in NSW had “broken down”.
In 2017 a City of Sydney survey identified defects and maintenance as the top concern of owner occupiers of apartments, along with short-term letting through organisations such as Airbnb.
NSW Greens MLC David Shoebridge said:
“The extent of defects in high rise apartments are so widespread that I would find it difficult to believe any apartment constructed in the last decade is free of them,” he said.
“The most common, and often the most expensive, problem that keeps being identified is the failure of waterproofing.”
READ MORE! AND VIEW THE PHOTOS OF THE DEFECTS
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COMMUNITY ACTION ALLIANCE FOR NSW (CAAN): HOUSING INEQUALITY WITH AUSSIES LOCKED OUT! 