A group of north Canberra homebuyers say they have been left thousands of dollars out of pocket and some without homes after signing up for an ACT Government affordability scheme.
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Michelle Philp and her neighbours dreamt of buying their own homes under the ACT Government affordable housing scheme OwnPlace.
But now the would-be residents of Section 103 in the new Gungahlin suburb of Bonner are embroiled in a bureaucratic nightmare, paying tens of thousands of dollars in holding cost for houses they cannot occupy until late 2012.
The government's Land Development Agency (LDA), which sold the residents their land, says that it is the job of the project's builder to secure the necessary development approvals after they had signed up the purchasers.
But Ms Philp, who is still waiting to move into her house 18 months after she signed up to OwnPlace, blames the LDA for the problems on the building job.
She says some of the purchasers who paid for two bedroom properties were left stuck with one-bedroom houses after signing up to buy homes off-the-plan before the buildings were approved by ACTPLA.
"We have all received two rates notices and two water bills for properties that have undergone 10 months of costly delays while our builder negotiated between the LDA and ACTPLA," Ms Philp said.
"The cost of rent, plus interest on the land loan during these delays plus these bills has placed many of us under unexpected and unplanned financial strain and I am now homeless as I felt my only option was to move out of my rental property.
"I am someone who is normally very careful with money and it took three years of sacrificing many other things to save the deposit for my home, yet the government is happy to fritter away $10,000 to $15,000 of my savings that was to be paid off my mortgage on dead rent and interest during these 10 months of delays caused by their errors."
But LDA Chief Executive David Dawes said his agency only had a contractual obligation to sell the land and it was up to the builder to secure the necessary approvals.
"The compliance of the designs is the responsibility of the OwnPlace builder's panel member who prepared and marketed the designs for the blocks that they selected through the OwnPlace builder's ballot," Mr Dawes said.
"It is the responsibility of the builder to communicate any changes in the building design to their clients.
"The LDA has no contractual involvement other than selling the land."
