Mascot Tower apartment evacuation

According to TND the temporary relief from NSW government to Mascot Tower residents will be:
- $220/night for one bedder
- $300/night for 2 bedder
- $400/night for 3 bedder

But these money are not free and will have to be paid back - either through insurance or compensation payouts.

Source:
Financial relief for homeless Mascot Towers residents - but there's a catch

I really feel sorry for these guys, especially the renters who doesn't have a say at these issues but then have to cop with this situation

Cheers,
David

 

As crap as this must be for them, I'd much rather be a renter than an owner.

What. A. Mess.

 

I don't see much of a problem for the renters.

 

Strata dragging their feet on issues when they were in their infancy- possibly poor salesmanship in getting funding to repair them early at AGMs. Understandable as noone wanrs to pay an extra $1000 a quarter in strata

 

From ABC News. Oops if that is the case.

 

It didn't look that bad when i drove past

 

Some new developments on this building:
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...est-engineer-update-says-20190625-p520wm.html

The worrying bit i found is actually found in the very first comment on that article:
=============================================================
Bubble Boy
Who is surprised when it's built on swamp with a water table 1.5 metres below the surface. How many more will sink like the Titanic in due time ?

Alan
How right you are Mr BB. I can recall the difficulties the builders of the immediately adjacent railway had with water and soil subsidence when the Airport line was put through. Add the extensive high rise building work immediately around the Mascot Tower, plus the extensive stormwater drainage system put in to carry the rainwater discharge away from the ground throughout Mascot and you have the right conditions for a lowering the natural ground water level together with a resulting gradual slump in the sandy loam ground.

The suggestion of demolishing the building and building an even higher monster will only exacerbate slumping (sinking) of the surrounding buildings over time.

Seems the lesson learnt from that sinking feeling experienced due dewatering in Jakarta, Venice, Tokyo and Shanghai need to be applied to Mascot and the swampy mudflats out at Olympic Park...
========================================

Are these commenters suggesting that the ground in the Mascot area (as well as Olympic Park) used to be a swamp? which could be the real reason behind these structural movements?

I thought these issues should have been carefully considered and dealt with when the foundation was dug out.

 

Apart from the fact they have to pay rent for a place they can’t access.
And will have to pay rental costs elsewhere.
And can’t remove their furniture or most belongings?
Phots even showed some cars trapped in the underground car park.
Marg

 

Yeah it would be terrible. But surely no renter in that building is still paying rent unless the landlords are paying for temporary accommodation. Part of the obligation of a rental contract is to provide the dwelling in a liveable condition which it obviously isn't now.

If it were me I'd live in temporary accommodation until I can find a new place and then immediately terminate the rental agreement at Mascot Towers. The landlords have clearly failed to keep up their end of the agreement so you're free to end it at your discretion. Any landlord trying to enforce a rental agreement on an apartment that has been evacuated would be laughed out of court.

 

You would think so, wouldn’t you?

Tenant is usually responsible for rent payments until lease terminated, either by mutual agreement with the landlord, or by applying to the Tenancy Tribunal to be released. That will take time.

Hopefully the tenants are aware of the correct legal processes.
Marg

 

I thought as a landlord, if your property became uninhabitable you had a legal responsibility to provide alternative accommodating? If so, the landlords would probably be glad to just mutually terminate the leases if thats what the renter wants and let the renters walkaway and find alternative accomodation?

 

Yes both areas were well known low lying areas in my youth. But that simply means that you have to pier down to bedrock for the footings. The difficult part is they don’t do that anymore. When I built in 1998 I had to pier down 7-10 metres for both my house and my pool. Today engineers design for the minimum cost and that the building simply stands for its statutory warranty. Until the engineer is made responsible for the structure of the building, these shoddy structures will happen. Bad builders are shopping for engineers and strata managers to cover up their bad work.

 

Invermay in Launceston, Tas is similarly swampy. They built a bunch of 'luxury' townhomes close to the river and within a few years they were cracking like eggs.

That said plenty of older homes in the area that have held up well.

 

Looks like the non "Property Chat" people have worked it out too

Older apartments to grow in demand as buyers grow wary of defects in new buildings: experts

 

bit worrying indeed, though on old apartment iv seen cracks appear (just on the surface not like a deep crack), i assume due to heat changes the rendering cracks,?

 

Easy to resolve just ask one of the apartment owners if you can look at it and offer them cash

 

Kathlyn Loseby, the president of the NSW chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects -:
“Compliance needs to be certified by a registered, regulated professional, with sufficient expertise, who is independent from the builder, including for payment of their services.”
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw...right-in-the-first-place-20190705-p524kz.html

 

Potentially another one caught up in building issues as Opal/Mascot Tower:
Cracks see Frasers Property Clemton Park Village caught up in widening apartment building defect calamity

No evacuation required at this point so fingers crossed it doesn't get as bad.

Cheers,
David

 

Maybe we should make mortgages non-recourse like in the US. It would definitely result in a high level of oversight and consideration before these types of developments are approved.

 

This is getting beyond a one-off or only a couple of builds.

I do wonder how long State Governments can continue to imply with statements "It isn't a wide spread problem." Maybe, maybe not but it's a bloody big problem for those impacted by these events.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/zet...tion-over-severe-defects-20190709-p525lk.html