I spent £1.2MILLION on a newbuild house – but when I moved in it was riddled with mould…then everything got worse
A QUEENSLAND family has been left furious after spending £1.2 million on a newbuild house but it turned out it had serious problems.
Dad-of-five Justin Herald was fuming after the insurance claim for a defective house was rejected because the state insurer didn’t have enough time to review their case.
Justin, from Broadbeach Waters in the Gold Coast, forked out $2.4 million to move his family into a three-storey house in July last year.
The 53-year-old knew the home was still within its warranty period and pretty soon they realised it had serious waterproofing problems which led to black mould proliferating the entire upstairs of the house.
After his calls to the builder went unanswered he learned the company had gone bust, making the family eligible for the state’s last resort home warranty insurance scheme through the Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC).
But the QBCC rejected the Herald family’s claim on the basis they should have known about the defects because one line in their pre-purchase report indicated the house potentially had water ingress issues.
When Mr Herald appealed the case, the QBCC was unable to send out a representative to inspect his site within the required 28-day window, which means his appeal reverted to their original decision to reject his payout.
“This is a master scam,” Mr Herald told news.com.au. “There’s no incentive for them to actually do their job if they can hide behind this 28-day thing.”
The house has waterproofing issues.
The Herald family are furious.
A couple of weeks after moving in, Mr Herald recalled “a massive storm came through”.
“In the second storey, there was water coming in from the top of the walk-in wardrobe,” he added. This can be seen in the video above.
Since then, he has been unable to fix the issues while awaiting an outcome on his insurance claim.
If he fully or partially fixes the water issues, it will negate his insurance claim and leave him out of pocket.
As a result, a year has passed while he waits for the insurance to come through and the water issues have got worse, with layers of black mould in the top storeys of his home.
One of his daughters has asthma and avoids going upstairs entirely.
He was shocked in May when the insurer said they would not be giving him any money because he should have known about the waterproofing defects.
“I just think it’s unfair. Ours is a legitimate claim, if the builder was still in business he’d have to fix this,” Mr Herald lamented.
“To have the inspection report used against you is wrong. If we did not get the pest and building inspection, they would have passed it, that’s how stupid it is.”
He also noted that where the water is coming from “is not where the pest and building report said where the problem is”.
But the biggest curve ball was yet to come. After appealing the decision, Mr Herald received an email back from the QBCC which he said made his blood boil.
“QBCC is subject to legislation that requires internal reviews be completed within 28 days of receiving an application … If no decision is made within this time frame, section 86C (3) of the Queensland Building and Construction Commission Act 1991 directs that a decision is deemed to have been made that is the same as the original decision.
“The required period expired on 27 June 2023.
“Unfortunately, the Internal Review Unit has been unable to decide the application within the required period … The QBCC’s decision is therefore taken to be the same as the original decision.”
Essentially, because they hadn’t got around to reviewing his case, it automatically reverted back to their original decision, which was a resounding no.
Mr Herald has now lodged a case to battle against the insurer at the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT).
“The whole thing is an absolute joke,” he said.
“That idiot builder has got away with everything.”
In a statement, the QBCC said it could not comment due to privacy reasons.
“The QBCC strongly encourages buyers to get a pre-purchase building and pest inspection from a licensed inspector when buying a home,” they said.
“If a person buys a house with defects that they knew about before purchasing, they won’t be able to later claim insurance through the Queensland Home Warranty Scheme.”