By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
HOMEBUYERS say they are thousands of dollars out of pocket due to building delays in the Sarah Lands housing estate in Keysborough.
Roads, kerbs, footpaths and street lights have been built at the sold-out greenfield estate off Perry Road, but purchasers can’t build their homes until an impasse between the developer Galileo and Greater Dandenong Council is resolved.
On an online forum, frustrated purchasers claim they were told by real estate agent KR Peters that their property would be ready for construction by March or April.
The latest estimate, according to Galileo, is August.
In the interim, purchasers have yet to receive land titles.
They have signed contracts with builders to start work in March and are now paying months of penalties to the builders.
The dispute with Greater Dandenong is about who pays for a 1.3 hectares of public open space in the estate.
Councillor Peter Brown said the council was seeking a binding financial agreement – either a contract or a bond – for Galileo to fund the open space works.
“In the past, greenfield developments have gone under and we’re left with large areas of public open space – it’s then up to the council ratepayers to develop the area.
“The council doesn’t want to be in the position of an unsecured creditor.”
Galileo chief executive Neil Werrett said the developer, having provided more than the requisite 5 per cent public open space, was owed “a credit” of money by the council.
“Part of that reserve is land that the council have got to pay for.”
He said the council wasn’t the main source of delays and that there had been hold-ups caused by utilities as well as clearing old agricultural piping from the site.
“I don’t know what the agent told (purchasers) but we were hoping to get it done around now – by (the end of the) last financial year.”
Meanwhile, Cr Brown said purchasers were the “meat in the sandwich” in the negotiations – having been given “false optimism” by the real estate agent.
“A large number of purchasers are feeling the strain.”
KR Peters agent Janine Scott-Rule said she hadn’t seen “such an uproar” at a housing estate – though she’s known of some purchasers enduring delays of two years.
She said it was initially predicted that titles would be available by March or April but “you should always leave a two or three month buffer”.
“It’s not unusual there’s a couple of months of delays.
“I’m always very clear when they’re signing a contract – I said to all of them I wouldn’t be signing with the builder until after Christmas (2014).
“Some buyers got a little too excited and committed too early.”
