Earlier this month, WA home builder Nicheliving agreed to drop its building registration challenge so customers could access the state government's home indemnity insurance. But some customers are still in limbo waiting for other builders, forcing many to rent in the meantime. And now, issues of non-compliance in the builds are being discovered, causing more grief in the ongoing saga.
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00:00For Nelson and Kirsten Prey, they wanted marriage, a house and then a baby, but the order of
00:10those milestones was robbed from them.
00:13We put off trying to have a child for two years, just trying to get that confirmation.
00:18We decided last year, in 2023, to start because we were meant to have our house by the deadline
00:23of November.
00:24The pair are renting in Parmelia in Perth South with their now eight-month-old baby
00:29waiting for their Aurelia build to be finished.
00:34They signed up with Niche Living in December 2020 using a First Home Buyers grant and were
00:39told they'd be in within 392 days from construction starting.
00:44But delays arose and communication fizzled.
00:48One of the owners makes comments about how it felt like Christmas for him when all these
00:52houses were being signed up on and it's like, then he blames the government for them overselling
00:58and it's like, you can't have it both ways.
01:00To me, it's kind of like a spoiled kid that eats too much candy and then blames the parents
01:04for being sick.
01:05Niche Living has withdrawn its SAT proceedings, thereby bringing to a close the period of
01:11limbo customers have been in.
01:14What is that?
01:15I don't know.
01:16It looks like bad wiring.
01:18The government's intervention was certainly welcomed by the couple, but already issues
01:22with the build have been noticed.
01:25An independent inspector told them the master bedroom ceiling is too low in parts to comply
01:30with building standards.
01:32There's also a crack in their concrete slab.
01:35A company has offered to finish their build, which it says would take four months, but
01:40not until the new year, which means at least another six months of renting.
01:45Now, just this message for the company's directors.
01:49It's always been about them and their company and their problems and their excuses.
01:55It's not just me and my family, there's 200 of us and it's always been about them.
02:01The couple says they'll look to sell after living there for a year.
02:05The memories of the last four years too painful to create new ones.