Opal Tower builder promises residents up to $10k in accommodation, food costs

Builders of Sydney’s troubled Opal Tower have pledged to reimburse residents for their food and accommodation costs and could pay more than $10,000 to some families. 

But Icon Construction’s move has been described as a ‘drop in the ocean’ given its Japanese parent company, Kajima Corporation, has an estimated market value of $12.5 billion. 

In emails to residents seen by Daily Mail Australia at the weekend, Icon Construction pledged to pay up a maximum $500 for accommodation to occupants who have four bedroom homes in the ‘cracked’ tower. 

It has offered a further $120 per day to cover breakfast, lunch and dinner. The company will pay more to residents depending upon ‘the number of bedrooms in the apartment you are currently residing’ in, the correspondence said. 

Damage in the Opal Tower building as pictured by Sydney Olympic Park residents this week

A picture from inside the Pullman Hotel where many Opal Tower residents have been put up

Icon Construction is paying for breakfast, lunch and dinner for residents of Opal Tower 

A family of five living in a four bedroom unit could therefore be paid out up to $11,000 if they were forced to live in temporary accommodation for ten days.  

Finding accommodation for hundreds of people has proved difficult with some residents unable to stay in nearby hotels due to New Year’s Eve reservations. 

Others even had to sleep in their cars, with former finance worker John telling Daily Mail Australia he had no choice after the first evacuation. 

He said he had a full fridge and freezer full of meat and fresh food and it was unclear whether it would go to waste. 

‘There’s not much you can fit in a hotel fridge,’ he said. 

In an apologetic email to residents, Ecove developer Bassam Aflak said on Thursday : ‘We completely appreciate that having to move out of your home is awful.’

Days on, many questions linger, including whether tenants will have to pay their landlords rent. 

Trader Mark O’Brien keeps an office in the building and on Monday he still did not know whether he would have to pay.  

‘After a bad start they are doing their best’: Sydney father Mark O’Brien (pictured) has spent the past few days on the south coast – and his holiday couldn’t have come at a better time

‘I think after a bad start they are doing their best,’ Mr O’Brien said of the companies responsible for the building. 

NSW Fair Trading says if tenants are required to move out, rent may be waived or reduced. 

‘Whether any rent is payable at all and, if so, the amount payable will depend on the extent of the damage and the amount of use the tenant has of the property.’

Tenants can terminate their lease ‘if the property is destroyed or wholly or partly uninhabitable and/or ceases to be legally used as a residence’.   

On Christmas Eve, hundreds of residents from Opal Tower (pictured) and thousands from neighbouring buildings were evacuated after loud cracking noises prompted calls to emergency services

Most were initially let back inside, but on Thursday were told everyone would have to leave the building for at least 10 days while an investigation into the damage and its cause was completed and the cracks were repaired

Residents were first evacuated from the 38-storey building on Christmas Eve. Several were allowed to return – only to be evacuated once again days later. 

Developers said residents will not be able to live at Opal Tower for ‘at least’ ten days.  

Mr O’Brien said the real test will be how long residents are kept out of their homes.

‘The big test will be the 10 day estimate – personally (it) will become pretty inconvenient if it stretches out (longer).’  

Meantime, Icon has been given a 48 hour deadline to hand over a detailed list of all materials used in the high-rise building to experts.