A man was left furious after checking the progress of his £400,000 home and realising workers had only built half a house.
Bishnu Aryal moved to Australia from Nepal in search of a new life and saved hard for a decade to be able to afford his own property.
He then spent $398,950 (£223,000) on a plot of land in south-west Sydney before signing up for a $322,000 (£180,000) off-plan home.
Mr Aryal employed ZAC Homes in 2016 to work on the property which he hoped would eventually be a dream house for his family.
But the mortgage broker was left stunned when he later went to check on the builders’ progress and discovered half a duplex.
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(Image: A Current Affair/Nine News)
Pictures show the bizarre property covering just half of the allocated land with a huge grey dividing wall down one side.
Dad-of-two Mr Aryal told A Current Affair that he “nearly fainted” when he saw the result of three years’ worth of work.
He admits that his English, his second language, is not perfect but remains adamant that the finished product is not what he asked for.
“It’s not a free-standing house, it’s not a duplex, it’s half a house. And it looks embarrassing,” he said.
“They were promising us the house will be ready in one year time, but we wait for three long years.
(Image: A Current Affair/Nine News)
“When we come to see the progress of the building, we see our building was different to what we were expecting.”
Mr Aryal added that the home is so odd to look at people stop outside to take photos.
“A lot of people are always taking photos on the street. They think it looks pretty ugly,” he said.
“Where’s my house? I want the rest of my house.”
ZAC Homes was bombarded with one-star reviews online after Mr Aryal’s story was aired.
The company has now responded to the claims in a statement on Facebook, and said 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.
(Image: A Current Affair/Nine News)
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A statement: “We know this is really bad for Mr Aryal and his family. Hopefully this comment will provide some context to the dreadful situation.
“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.
“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.
“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.
(Image: A Current Affair/Nine News)
“To help alleviate some of their stress we’re deferring the final payment and we’ve waived a fee of 23 thousand dollars.
“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 Aryal has since revealed his family was forced to move into the house with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic limiting their options.
He said he wanted to speak out as he hopes his situation will serve as a warning to other potential homebuyers.