RUINED MY LIFE..! – HOMEOWNERS REVEAL YEARS OF ALLEGED BUILDING DEFECTS, SHODDY WORKMANSHIP AND NIGHTMARE CUSTOMER SERVICE BEFORE BATHLA GROUP’S STAGGERING COLLAPSE.
A string of homeowners previously spoke out against Bathla Group, claiming a slew of building defects, shoddy workmanship, and ‘nightmare’ customer service issues years before the property giant collapsed.
On Tuesday, Bhart Bhushan, who co-owns Bathla with his brother Rajinder Mohan, announced the business would enter voluntary administration.
The company is believed to owe an estimated $3.6billion to private credit firms and other creditors.
Administrators from Teneo were appointed to undertake an ‘immediate assessment’ of Bathla’s finances in an effort to stabilise operations.
The business has up to 25,000 unfinished homes on its books and its collapse has put 500 jobs at risk, with urgent discussions now taking place with lenders.
While the property group’s financial troubles have attracted attention due to the sheer scale of the business, Daily Mail can reveal a trail of homeowners have been left in Bathla’s wake, furious over unfinished work, damaged furniture and building defects.
In one case taken to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) in 2021 regarding a house at Quakers Hill, in Sydney’s west, the homeowner said they had ‘lost all trust’ in the building work done by them.
The owner, Edward Clark, claimed the property group breached statutory obligations that work would be done with ‘due care and skill’ after workers allegedly damaged his personal property, left a dangerous staircase in situ and failed to repair any faults.
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Bathla Group managing director Bhart Bhushan put the business into voluntary administration on Tuesday
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Bathla has been taken to court several times by homeowners who claimed they had been left furious by unfinished work, damaged furniture and building defects
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A woman described buying her first home with Bathla last year as a ‘stressful ordeal’, with holes left in bathroom tiles, no covers on electrical sockets and rust on ‘new’ shaving cabinets
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Mr Clark stated in his written submission to the tribunal that his damaged furniture ‘was all due to an unprofessional painter they hired to repaint my house due to poor workmanship’ that had been there when he had first moved in.
‘Please note this was the third time a painter had to come. The painter has clearly damaged a lot of my furniture when he was trying to repair the poor work from (a) previous painter.
‘The painter covered my sofa, but put a sharp ornament on top (and) has ripped the side of the sofa… and also left permanent white paint marks.’
Bathla, under the name of its main entity, Universal Property, was ordered by NCAT to pay Mr Clark more than $7,000 in costs.
Another customer, who purchased a Bathla property in 2023, claimed in a review of the business that she took the builder to court after the experience of building a home with them ‘ruined her life.’
‘It has been nothing short of a nightmare ever since. They have consistently refused to fix major defects – including serious issues with the kitchen, internal defects throughout the property, flooding in the backyard, and faulty piping and plumbing.
‘Despite countless attempts to have these matters resolved, they have shown complete disregard for their obligations. I am now in court proceedings against them and have lodged a formal complaint regarding their registration.’
Last year, another woman described buying her first home with Bathla as a ‘stressful ordeal’ that caused her both mental and financial distress, with items listed in the contract of sale never installed.
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In July, a homeowner took to social media to slam Bathla over ‘waterproofing issues’ she said the business hadn’t taken seriously (pictured)
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An owner of a Box Hill property said Bathla workers installed a broken drain pipe in his wall in 2023, which led to water leaking into his home
‘Settlement occurred without any inspection, and the apartment I received was dirty, unfinished, and they even left the glass sliding doors open so the unit was infested with moths and bugs on arrival,’ she said in a post reviewing the property group.
‘Despite raising numerous defects immediately, Bathla went silent for weeks with no follow-up or acknowledgment from the site supervisor.
‘When repairs were finally ”completed,” the workmanship was shockingly poor: holes in bathroom tiles covered with cheap, mismatched plates, a visibly patched kitchen stone benchtop, no covers on electrical sockets and rust on ”brand new” shaving cabinets.’
Property inspector Zeher Khalil told Daily Mail examples like this are a clear sign of what happens when a high-volume builder comes under financial pressure.
‘I’m careful only to comment on homes I’ve personally inspected, so I won’t comment on Bathla’s work specifically, but the type of complaints being reported is exactly that pattern which we see across the industry,’ he said.
‘Supervision is usually the thing that suffers when finances are stretched. Trades don’t get paid, so they don’t come back, and homes get pushed through to handover with work incomplete or rushed.
‘I’ve inspected thousands of new homes and it’s genuinely rare for me to walk through a new build and find nothing to write up.’
Mr Khalil, who is best known as ‘The TikTok Inspector’, now uses his decade in construction to inform potential buyers online about how to avoid poorly-built homes.
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‘TikTok Inspector’ Zeher Khalil said corners get cut when a builder is struggling financially
What impacted Bathla homeowners should do
Property inspector Zeher Khalil advised impacted homeowners to:
Photograph the home as it stands
Keep every document
Get an independent report on the stage of completion and any defects
Mr Khalil said this evidence could be beneficial if you have property issues and want to file an insurance claim.
‘Most defects are fixable if they’re caught early. The ones that hurt people financially are the ones behind the walls, like waterproofing and plumbing,’ he said.
‘A faulty shower membrane or a poorly connected pipe can sit hidden for two or three years and then cost tens of thousands of dollars in damage, long after the builder has moved on, or no longer exists in the same form.
‘When a builder is struggling, corners can get cut where the buyer can’t see them.’
Mr Khalil encouraged future homeowners wishing to build to check the builder’s licence on the NSW Fair Trading register before they sign a contract, withhold any fees until you have a certificate of insurance, and use their own independent inspector at every stage.
He also said any buyer should not purchase a home without their own pre-purchase inspection.
‘Be as careful choosing the inspector as you are choosing the builder. In NSW and Victoria, building inspection is completely unregulated; Queensland is the only state that licenses them.’
Mr Khalil’s comments follow Bathla’s managing director Bhart Bhushan saying a ‘perfect storm’ of softening sales, tax change impacts, and higher construction costs had led to the company’s downfall.
‘These changes in market conditions have had flow-on effects to lending markets, putting further pressure on the business,’ he said in a statement on Tuesday.
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Bathla builds budget-friendly housing estates, townhouses and apartments across Sydney
He said the decision was made in the best interests of all stakeholders to provide the best feasible opportunity to continue delivering much-needed homes across Sydney.
A close friend of Mr Bhushan’s told the Daily Mail he had been put under immense pressure by authorities.
‘I think the government has pushed people off a cliff,’ a longtime friend of Mr Bhushan said, referring to tax changes in Labor’s recent Budget.
‘I don’t know the real story… but it takes a lot of risk to get to the position their business did. It’s a sad story, I do feel for them, it isn’t an easy time.’
The company has $15billion worth of affordable housing projects in its pipeline, according to its website.
While administrators have estimated up to 15,000 homes could be affected, Bathla’s website claims its broader development pipeline includes 22,000 apartment dwellings and a further 3,500 homes.
This highlights the enormous scale of the collapse and the potential impact on buyers, subcontractors and lenders.
Bathla Group joins a growing list of construction and development companies plunged into administration or liquidation in recent years amid rising costs and crippling labour shortages.
