24 September 2021
To some, he’s a knight in shining armour. To others, he’s the devil incarnate.
But wherever anyone stands on the rampaging NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler, cleaning up the mess of shoddy apartment construction breaking buyers’ hearts and their bank balances, absolutely no one is indifferent.
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At the peak body of apartment-owners, the Owners Corporation Network (OCN), executive officer Karen Stiles says nipping these problems in the bud is vital. It will be far cheaper than the enormous cost of building defects to purchasers personally as well as to taxpayers in the form of an overburdened court system and home owners’ warranty payouts that near $200 million over premiums year on year.
“It’s been an incredible two-year journey and after nearly 20 years of shouting into the abyss about the shocking state of apartment defects, OCN has been swept up in a reform journey the breadth and pace of which no one could have imagined,” she says. “Through that wild journey, I’ve witnessed the battlelines blur as even the most entrenched industry voices recognised the need for change and, as time went on, actually started to embrace it. Industry, consumers and the community at large are all winners.”