The Woniora residents take on Suncorp but ‘friends’ pull out. Potential damage for the sector on the horizon

Imagine two sets of operators, with their lawyers in tow, joining the residents and their lawyer to take on the village financier in the Consumer Tribunal. But then one operator pulled out.
That is what is happened today with Becton’s purported 5 Star village The Woniora, in Wahroonga, on the Upper North Shore of Sydney.
Consider what you would do if you were a resident of The Woniora.

The problem is that Becton has built and sold 50% of this new village, being one tower of about 40 apartments. It has no village community facilities – they are designed into the second tower, which is yet to be built. Becton has gone into receivership and Suncorp has foreclosed, grabbing the land that has been allocated for that second tower. Suncorp wants to sell the land for the highest price – rumoured to be $6M which it believes this will be delivered by a traditional apartment block – not the second retirement village development. (Retirement Alliance is said to have offered $4M).
The residents will not get their village community facilities that are written into their contracts. No 5 star pool, cafe or gym, just 40 odd ILUs to support them as they age and the cost of village management.
Suncorp, we are told, has always maintained it’s not its problem – talk to the receiver because it’s the receiver who is now in control of the assets. The residents feel this is a cynical legality to separate Suncorp from any bad publicity.
Becton, led by CEO Matthew Chen, is involved because it was the original developer and lease contractor with the residents. However Retirement Alliance is also involved because it had been assigned management rights to The Woniora by its ex-parent, Becton.
When Becton went into receivership, Retirement Alliance identified it could not effectively carry out its responsibilities, so management fell back to Matthew Chen and Becton.
The suburb of Wahroonga is like Toorak or Kew in Melbourne – big old family homes, big gardens, big private schools. Becton attracted retired professionals to pay big prices for the two tower The Woniora village. The residents are people not to be messed with.
They are now fighting back. They have kicked the can to fund lawyer Peter Hill, the favoured NSW Resident Association solicitor, to bypass the receiver and take the fight to Suncorp. Hill’s argument is that when Suncorp foreclosed it in effect took over responsibility for the residents’ contracts – including the clauses that promised that if they bought into Tower One they would get Tower Two with the community facilities.
He also argues that Suncorp as mortgagor had to approve each contract and so is an informed party.
The residents have taken Suncorp to the Consumer Tribunal (CTTT) today, and joining them were Gadens representing Retirement Alliance and Matthew Chen for Becton, each there as applicants with the residents. However it is reported that Gadens immediately asked for Retirement Alliance to be excused from the proceedings, stating they should not be involved and should not have been named. They were excused.
Suncorp’s solicitor commenced by saying the CTTT had no jurisdiction on the matter and that Suncorp had invested $100,000 in marketing the parcel of land. It has had 10 offers (including three from village operators) and they had a preferred buyer. They intend to ‘sell’ the land this Thursday. But with 40 residents at the hearing, Suncorp’s solicitor modified his position and agreed to reappear at the Tribunal on 2 October to hear the Member’s view on matters. No sale this Thursday.
The challenge for the sector is that just 4 kilometres down the road (and also represented by Peter Hill) are the residents of The Landings who are in the District Court, taken there by Sakkara and represented by Gadens. Sakkara is appealing Consumer Tribunal rulings against Sakkara.
The Landings issue has already been in the local press and The Woniora residents are talking to the media as well. They are both organised and have the resources. Two eloquent resident groups would make ‘negative’ media material.