Loading Other residents were also dealt another blow on Friday, after an emergency order issued by the council was extended beyond the original two-week period. Many residents had been previously told they might be back home on Friday morning, however the council has assessed the building and found it cannot be re-occupied. "On that basis, the building will not be available for the anticipated first stage of re-occupancy today," an email to residents from the body corporate on Friday read. "We will have further advice to you as soon as it comes to hand." "Please make the necessary arrangements for accommodation through until Sunday night."

The Age has previously revealed the entire smoke alarm system at the apartment block was "dilapidated" and hadn't been properly maintained prior to the fire. Initial inspections by a council building surveyor of the Neo 200 tower block found significant issues with the fire safety system which could put occupants' lives at risk if they remained living in the units, council documents revealed. Discarded cigarette butts found on the balcony where the blaze started. Credit:MFB Residents have had little access to the building to get belongings for a fortnight due to the emergency order. Dion Aleksovski, 31, has been renting an apartment on level 24 of the building with his flatmate. They have been told it could be months until their apartment is fixed.

"They have to fully rebuild those apartments and the surrounding ones are water damaged due to fire services going off in the hallways. Water soaked through the floor and under the doors of everyone's apartment and it's gone into the walls," he said. "The most frustrating thing was no one has seemed to relay any information onto us. No one contacted us individually, we are hearing things through everyone else." A couple of days ago, Mr Aleksovski got an email from the real estate agent which informed them the body corporate had hired a removal company. "They had gone into our apartment, packed all our stuff, boxed it all, cleared the whole apartment and said they were sending it to an off-site location in Glen Waverley," he said.

Loading "On top of that, we have to pay the removal company $1850. We have to pay for something that wasn't our fault, they never rang us or even asked us permission ... hopefully all my stuff is there and not damaged." While he loves the building and wants to keep living there, Mr Aleksovski said they were on a month-to-month lease and would relocate due to the uncertainty. Jeweller Jenny Zhang who lives with her husband on level 13 of the building said she had been forced to pay $750 to rent workspace for a number of days, as she normally works from home. "I definitely won't be able to claim back lost sales," she said.

The pair were originally staying with a friend in Coburg but are now living in short-term stay accommodation in the city. "It's just annoying, it's really, really annoying. Imagine you were to go on holidays and you come back and are not able to go home and are living out of a suitcase, and they keep telling you, 'Just one more day, just one more day'," she said. "It's been terrible." Jeweller Jenny Zhang, who normally works from home, has been forced to rent a work space while she waits to get back into her apartment. Others have taken to social media to complain about "11th-hour announcements" which have made it harder to plan ahead and organise finances.

One resident, David Hill, wrote on Twitter that the power had been turned off in the building, meaning the food in his fridge had gone off. Residents have been provided with up to $2500 for emergency accommodation while displaced from their homes. The Spencer Street apartment building that caught fire is fitted with combustible cladding. Credit:Simone Fox Koob However, at a meeting with the body corporate hosted by the council last week, many residents were frustrated, voicing their concerns that the $2500 allowance was quickly running out. Following the fire, which ripped through five balconies in a matter of minutes, MFB investigators found combustible cladding on the building's exterior likely fuelled the blaze.

It is believed to have been started by a discarded cigarette that ignited combustible material on the balcony. The apartment building is one of more than 2000 to have been inspected by the Victorian Building Authority.