Mascot Towers sale deal to end five years of ‘purgatory’ for owners of defect-riddled Sydney apartments

Five years of legal headaches may soon be over for many apartment owners in the defect-riddled Mascot Towers in Sydney, with a deal allowing them to sell their homes and walk away debt-free.

Owner-occupiers and some investors will also be eligible for $120,000 in government support, provided they have a taxable income of less than $156,000 and assets - excluding their Mascot Tower apartment - of less than $1m.

The NSW minister for fair trading, Anoulack Chanthivong, said the deal would “close the book on one of the darkest chapters in building in this state”.

skip past newsletter promotion Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters

Residents of the tower block in Sydney’s south were evacuated in 2019 after engineers became concerned about cracks in the primary support structure and facade masonry of the then 10-year-old building on Bourke Street.

The 132 families evacuated from their homes have spent the past two years lobbying the state government via a Change.org petition to improve construction regulations and hold developers responsible for defects in buildings.