Icon will not pay food or accommodation past Sunday breakfast for residents of 74 apartments declared safe to occupy

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The builder of Sydney’s damaged Opal Tower has stopped paying for temporary accommodation and food for some units now declared safe to occupy but some residents are refusing to move back in.

Icon will not pay food or accommodation past Sunday for residents of 74 apartments after the body corporate’s engineers Cardno declared those units safe to occupy.

“It is important to note that we are continuing to work with all the engineers to ensure all queries are thoroughly addressed and that the extent of apartments with actual remedial works is minimal,” Icon said in a letter to residents.

“Approximately 65 per cent of the apartments are ready to be reoccupied now.” Other residents will be able to stay in hotel accommodation until at least Wednesday.

But some residents are refusing to move back into the building until all construction works are finished.

Sydney Opal Tower report finds series of defects that will take 'weeks' to repair Read more

“We paid for a brand new apartment, not a construction site,” Wei Yang said on Sunday. “We, the owners, are the ones that have to pay our mortgage every single week ... You can imagine how much stress we are experiencing.”

Another resident insists engineers and the New South Wales government need to provide confirmation that the building is safe to occupy for everyone. “We can’t move back into construction site yet,” Yoyomummy LZ wrote on Facebook.

The design engineer WSP on Thursday said it had established a reoccupation schedule for apartments that are “physically remote” from repairs, strengthening works or propping.

It said stabilisation works had been undertaken on three walls in the building across 12 levels. But it maintains the building is structurally sound overall - a verdict also made by the government’s independent engineering experts.