A young family in Bunbury are facing a first home buyer’s nightmare after being driven from their home by rain and damp six months after completion.
During their first winter last year, Cathryne McDonagh and Richard Jarred discovered their East Bunbury property was prone to flooding and subsequent investigations revealed their property had allegedly been built too low.
Alarm bells were first set off when rainwater was found to pool above the level of external paving to the front, rear and west side of the property.
The couple commissioned an engineer’s report that highlighted mould on the eaves which was allegedly caused by issues with the guttering.
The report also found the foundation of the house and garage were allegedly set 300 to 400mm lower than approved drawing levels.
The couple said they contacted G. J. Gardner Homes, company director Austin Ietto visited the property and his assessment was that it had not been built too low.
We face the possibility of having to sell our home for land-only value, leaving us in serious debt."
- Cathryne McDonagh
To make matters worse, they’ve since learned that G. J. Gardner Homes has gone into liquidation.
The Mail spoke to Mr Ietto about the matter and he declined to comment prior to publication deadline.
The couple have taken their case to the State Administrative Tribunal to seek restitution for the alleged major defects to their property which they say will require hefty demolition and rebuilding costs.
To date, the couple have spent more than $370,000 on mortgage repayments, rates and bills, legal costs, land, interest, engineering reports and inspections.
“We can’t afford to demolish and rebuild ourselves and we face the possibility of having to sell our home for land-only value, leaving us in serious debt,” Ms McDonagh said.
“We don’t understand how we are left to deal with this while the builder...has made no offer to rectify the problems.”
Since the issues were identified, the family-of-four have had to move in with relatives and are worried the longer this goes on, the worse the problems will become.
