00:01Five years after buying off the plan,
00:04Tammy Roy is still fenced off from her forever home.
00:08It's just, it's been a bit tough
00:09because I really wanted to retire this year.
00:13She's one of five purchasers
00:15who bought into this Newcastle development
00:17with settlement originally slated for 2023.
00:20Since then, she's been living in a mix of house sits
00:23and short-term rentals.
00:25I tell people I live in my car
00:27because everything I currently have available to me
00:30fits in my car.
00:31The update we're giving is,
00:32oh, in the next three months it should be resolved,
00:34in the next three months it should be resolved.
00:36The selling agent involved says
00:38that in more than a thousand off-the-plan contracts,
00:41it's never encountered delays like this.
00:43A dispute between the builder and developer
00:46over this driveway is the latest issue holding things up.
00:50What are the reasons for the delays
00:52that we're seeing to this project?
00:54Look, a lack of communication
00:55is one of them.
00:56The developer's financial challenges was another one.
00:59In a statement,
01:00the developer said
01:01it had successfully delivered
01:03multiple projects on time before.
01:05It said the delays had wiped out
01:07all profits in the project
01:09while causing no financial impact to the builder.
01:12Under the law,
01:13purchasers can walk away
01:14if a project isn't finished on time.
01:16But these buyers say
01:18they have too much to lose.
01:20We were locked out of the market
01:22because the price we got for that property
01:25obviously five years ago
01:28is getting not the same price now.
01:29As the government considers reform,
01:31buyers are calling for tougher regulations.
01:34We should have a way to enforce
01:36as a penalty on this delivery
01:39and massive delay.
01:42If we lose that house,
01:44we lose our dream.
01:45So there should be some time limit,
01:47some way for us to push it
01:49so that it gets finished.
01:50The developers say
01:51they can complete the remaining works
01:53in four to six weeks.
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