Are these grounds to cancelling a contract?

I entered into a building contract in early 2018 to build a house in Queensland. The project started in June 2018 and it is still not finished. The issue being the builder has undertaken works that were not in the contract and have been caught out by the government bodies for their unauthorised works. I am sitting here 12 months later still paying high interest on the loan without having access to the property.


To add to this, the retaining wall at the rear of the property was only to be 1m high as per the contract. Because they never conducted a proper feasibility study of the land before they started, they have had to make excessive cutting of soil at the back of the property resulting in a retaining wall that is 3.0m high with a neighbouring timber paling fence sitting on top of that. The view from the backyard is now like being housed in a jail with a massive cement block wall and my landscaping as per the contract cannot be laid anymore so they concreted the whole backyard.


At no point in any of this was I made aware of any changes to the contract that these builders undertook. I simply pressured them for months and months as to why they were so slow. It wasn’t until the local council sent me a letter notifying me of unauthorised works over an easement at the front of the property was I able to dig further and get to the bottom of all these issues.


My question now is, am I able to get out of this contract on the grounds that the area surrounding the house is not built as per the contract and it is impossible for them to amend the works to present it correctly as it would mean pulling the house down and refilling the cut earth? I am extremely unhappy that I will be left staring out my backyard at a block wall and concrete jungle where no grass of vegetation will grow due to lost sunlight.

 

A solicitor should give advice. Daryl Richards of Certus Legal may be a local referral if required.

 

Contact a lawyer, you can also make a complaint with QBCC Complaints about defective building work

 

impossible to answer without seeing the terms of the contract.