Builder into liquidation - Watersun Homes

I got to hear this news from a friend who have been building their first home in Melbourne from Watersun homes. Their house was almost complete and he said they were notified they'll receive keys in couple of weeks time but then they heard about the builder going into liquidation.
They just had a baby and the wife is not working at the moment, its a very sad news for a lot of such families. Not sure what will they get out of builder's warranty insurances.

Multimillionaire developer Benni Aroni was a long-term director and co-founder of WSH Group Pty Ltd, the homebuilding company behind Watersun Homes. He's the one who built and sold 'Australia 108' tower in Melbourne to a chinese firm.

 

So what happens in this situation where builder goes bust before certificate of occupancy/handover?

 

You'll have to get it completed from another builder. But my friend has told me they have reached out to many other builders but none of them is willing to takeover the leftover job.
Insurance claims are the other path, but that has its own complexities.

 

Can you get another builder straight away or does the half built building get caught up in the liquidation of the company? Is that half built building seen as an asset of the busted company?

 

I was building and was less than a week from getting the keys when our builder fell over. The government insurer took over and found a builder to finish off the jobs. We had to live in a hotel for a few weeks but we were very fortunate that we were the first home to get completed. Perhaps it was due to a very hormonal 7.5months pregnant woman going a little crazy. Others with only partially complete homes waited over a year while those at frame stage had to be knocked down and started again.

 

You need to find another builder , and also contact the VMIA about how much insurance you have

 

If you own the land the liquidator will soon advise what will happen. Will take them time to work out the company position. In a few days / weeks call them and ensure they know your property is "äll but" completed and they may work out a solution. The liquidator may pay a builder to complete these homes and complete settlement to reduce debts

Sadly sometimes some problem sites have asked for advance progress payments and some owners release them in which case the liquidator may walk away. There is nothing to be gained from them walking away from almost completed homes with good progress claims still available. eg if there is $14k of work to be done to get $135K paid they may complete the work.

Otherwise, they will not complete the building contract and receive no $$ and basically handover the incomplete build to the landowner to sort out under warranty insurance etc.

Problem is if its a OTP sale. Then the deposit etc is just another unsecured debt. There is no contract for the land and house.

The best outcomes are almost complete builds. Framed and slabbed sites can just be a demo cost and start again !!