Sydney housing developer enters voluntary administration amid financial crisis

Embattled western Sydney housing developer Bathla Group has collapsed into voluntary administration, leaving hundreds of buyers who purchased off-the-plan homes in limbo.

Documents filed with the corporate regulator on Tuesday morning reveal Teneo has been appointed as administrator of the company, and its hundreds of related entities including Universal Property Group and Raj & Jai Construction.

In an Instagram post on the company’s page, founder and director Bhart Bhushan described the voluntary administration as the “orderly restructure of business” and blamed the decision on “a perfect storm” of declining sales, rising construction costs and the federal government’s May budget.

“Our first thoughts are with our employees and the customers who have put their faith in us to deliver their dream of home ownership,” he said. “It is my sincere hope this process can allow that to happen by working collaboratively with the administrators, our suppliers, contractors and lending partners.”

In a statement, Bathla chief executive Robert Loader said the company recognised it was a “difficult situation” and said the appointment of administrators was “in the best interest of all stakeholders”.

“The business has been through a period of declining sales and falling property prices, while construction costs have increased,” he said. “We will work constructively with the administrators to support the continued delivery of much-needed housing for western Sydney.”

The collapse has left buyers who purchased off the plan unsure about what to do. Last week the Herald reported that buyers who had purchased apartments off the plan at Bathla’s Kembla Grange development had been unable to move in after the completion date for the project, which was originally slated for December 2025, had been extended four times.

Janice Cahill, who bought an apartment at the development, said the delays have “really and truly” affected her mental health. When Marie Sinclair, whose elderly parents bought an apartment in the same building, visited the site in September last year, she found doors with keys left unattended, graffitied walls, half-finished copper piping and multiple broken surfaces.

On Tuesday morning she called her real estate agent, asking what the collapse meant, and was assured the project was continuing.

Building Commission NSW, the state’s construction watchdog, has undertaken more than 40 inspections of Bathla sites over the past few months. It identified defects at the Kembla Grange development.

When asked why the completion date for the project had been pushed back, the spokesperson for Bathla said it was “due to unforeseen site delays with some external works … Completion is forecast for November”.

On Friday, Building Commission NSW confirmed it had issued penalties and imposed extensive licence conditions on Raj & Jai Construction and its director, after finding they engaged in improper conduct.

It found the company had carried out work at two properties in Schofields without the mandatory Home Building Compensation Fund (HBCF) insurance being in place, and that its director, on behalf of Raj & Jai Construction, made misleading statements in the applications for the two HBCF insurance certificates.

When the HBCF documentation for these properties was submitted in 2024, work had almost been completed, but the applications for the certificates stated that work was just beginning.

Raj & Jai Construction was fined $45,000, and its director, $9000.

“I accept that that’s not [a huge penalty] but these penalties were for these two particular offences and they were proportionate to those offences,” Building Commissioner James Sherrard told budget estimates on Monday.

Sherrard had previously said: “During disciplinary proceedings we found Raj & Jai Construction did not have the governance or compliance systems in place we expect of a large builder in NSW.”