BY DAKOTA TAIT
Families, couples and budding homeowners across the Hunter are concerned they could be left with no house and no deposit following the Privium Homes collapse.
It's been revealed a number of customers handed over cash to the company, without knowing Privium had not attached mandatory insurance to their contracts.
The Department of Fair Trading is investigating at least 11 cases where the mandatory insurance wasn't purchased.
Jarrod Sansom, a full-time PhD student, says he and his partner can't afford to build a home with a different firm unless they get their deposit back.
"The $16,000 that we've lost, that we can't afford to lose now that the cost of building has gone up, and as a student I don't really have much money to go around," Mr Sansom said.
"It's very difficult, I'm just trying to be strong for my partner."
FTI Consulting have since approached a number of affected people with forms to become unsecured creditors.
While Fair Trading has also launched investigations, it's unclear where homeowners stand.
"We just did what we were told," Mr Sansom said.
"It was our first time buying a house, so we jus trusted the professionals and we never saw anything, any information, that would indicate that Privium were in trouble, by any means."
Homeowners, subcontractors, and other unsecured creditors are expected to soon vote at a creditor's meeting, in a push to replace administrators appointed by Privium Homes boss Robert Harder to oversee the liquidation with independent ones.
But in the meantime, Mr Sansom says it's been radio silence.
"We should just be able to do what we want now, but that's not the case, and we've been told, to get clarity, you should contact a solicitor because the answers aren't here yet," Mr Sansom said.
"But that's fifteen hundred more dollars at least. It feels wrong to spend more money, when they're in the wrong, like they've taken our money, and now I've got to spend more money to get answers or to get things back on track?"
