The building company behind a bungled duplex has refused to take responsibility and blamed the council for the situation – despite the homeowner being left with ‘half a house’.
Mortgage broker Bishnu Aryal moved to Australia from Nepal for a new life and saved diligently for a decade to buy a plot of land in Edmondson Park, south-west Sydney, for $398,000.
The father-of-two signed a building agreement with construction company ZAC Homes in 2016 for a custom off-plan build, which set him back a further $322,000.
Mr Aryal and his family were left horrified after learning that rather than contractors building their $700,000 dream home they instead built half a duplex down the middle of the block – with a huge windowless grey wall erected down the middle.
The building company behind a bungled duplex have taken to social media refusing to take responbility and blaming the council for the situation – despite the homeowner being left with ‘half a house’
ZAC Homes addressed the situation through their Facebook page on Tuesday, saying the situation ‘hasn’t been caused by us’ and blaming Liverpool City Council.
‘The disagreement that’s causing the hold-up is between the certifier and Liverpool City Council and we’re working hard with them both to try and rectify the situation as quickly as possible,’ ZAC Homes said.
‘It’s a mess. We know that. Even though this situation hasn’t been caused by us, we are doing what we can to ensure that the right thing is done by Mr Aryal and his family.
‘We feel for them.’
Mr Artal said the agreement was for a free-standing home (pictured, left) but he realised too late contractors had built a semi-duplex on half the block (right)
The agreement was for a free-standing home but, three years later, Mr Aryal was horrified when he checked the progress and realised contractors had built a duplex on half the block – with a huge windowless grey wall erected down the middle.
Rather than having another building attached to the side, like with a regular duplex, the lot sits empty – giving the Aryal family home an unfinished look, with startled passersby even stopping to take pictures of it.
‘I called the supervisor and asked him what’s going on, why is the house like this? And he said ‘it’s a duplex, semi-duplex’, and I nearly fainted that day,’ Mr Aryal told A Current Affair on Monday night.
ZAC Homes claim the dispute is the result of a conflict between Liverpool City Council, the certifier and the neighbour’s refusing to proceed with building their own home.
‘The fact is the owners of the lot next door have failed to proceed with building their home and that’s why the certifier has continued to refuse to issue an Occupation Certificate,’ the building company said.
They also say they’ve waived a large fee for Mr Aryal as an offering of good faith.
‘We’ve done all we can. We are conducting on-site meetings with the Certifier, making representations to Council, and we’ve lodged a complaint to Fair Trading NSW,’ ZAC Homes posted on Facebook.
‘To help alleviate some of their stress we’re deferring the final payment and we’ve waived a fee of 23 thousand dollars.’
Mr Aryal’s home standing among a range of free-standing homes. He says he did not know the building plans changed
Bishnu Aryal (pictured) standing outside his unusual property in Edmondson Park, south-west Sydney
Mr Aryal said although his English isn’t perfect, he definitely did not sign up to have half a house.
One side of the house is a grey and windowless wall where the other half of the building looks like it should be.
‘Where’s my house?’ he asked A Current Affair on Monday night. ‘I want the rest of my house.’
‘It’s not a free-standing house, it’s not a duplex, it’s half a house. And it looks embarrassing.’
Construction company Zac Homes told the program the the plan when construction began was to build a free-standing home on the block, but claimed Liverpool Council later said Mr Aryal’s block had to be an attached dwelling.
Bishnu Aryal and his wife (pictured). Mr Aryal moved to Australia from Nepal for a new life
The construction company also said he had multiple opportunities to pull out of the agreement.
But Mr Aryal claimed he trusted the process and did not look at the new plans for half a duplex when they were sent over, and instead forwarded them to the bank.
Neighbour Muhammad described the home as a ‘pretty ugly’.
‘A lot of people are always taking photos on the street. They think it looks pretty ugly.’
Mr Aryal had to move in during Covid because his wife was pregnant and they had nowhere to go after he began losing work, but says he’s been waiting nine months for an occupation certificate – which authorises the use of a new building.
A spokesman for Zac Homes told the program it had done everything it could to secure an occupation certificate and has been trying for months to get it signed off.
Mr Aryal (pictured) had to move in during Covid because his wife was pregnant and they had nowhere to go and he was losing work
A Current Affair said the estate had a lot of duplexes built on half-blocks of land, but many seemed to be unoccupied
It said the certifier and the council are at a crossroads because the council wants the other half of the duplex built.
A spokesman said the company ‘appreciates the frustrations of Mr and Mrs Aryal surrounding the delay in the issue of the Occupation Certificate, these delays are not caused by Zac Homes.’
‘Instead, Zac Homes has worked diligently and at its own cost to attempt to remedy the outstanding matters so that the Occupation Certificate can issue,’ it said.
Property expert Michael Pallier said the land will go up in value, but the building itself is likely to depreciate.
‘It might actually get the point where the house is a liability and it’ll cost money to take the house down for someone to buy the land and build a free-standing home with doors and windows,’ he said.
He urged anyone buying a home to ensure a solicitor looks at the documentation before they sign.
Mr Aryal said he wants to raise awareness to make sure no one has to deal with the same thing.
