Tower’s builder says 50 of the 390 Olympic Park apartments not ready to be occupied for four to six weeks as relocated residents receive up to $500 a night in allowances

Residents of Sydney’s Opal Tower are being paid hundreds of dollars a night in compensation as they face an uncertain wait to return to their homes.

The company that built the tower, Icon Co, said roughly 50 of the 390 apartments were not ready to be occupied for four to six weeks.

The high-rise tower developed a large crack on Christmas Eve and is currently empty while Icon conducts emergency repairs. Residents were initially told they could return within 10 days but waiting times blew out after more cracks were discovered.

Some have been told they can return on Friday, pending the outcome of an emergency New South Wales government review – but others have heard nothing.

Dave, a resident of one of the affected units who did not want his surname published, told Guardian Australia he did not know when he could return, or whether the payment for his accommodation would continue as he waited.

“It could be six days, six weeks, six months, who knows,” he said.

Dave is currently living in a serviced apartment after he was evacuated on Christmas Eve, and has received compensation from Icon since then.

“How it works is they give residents a certain allowance if they have chosen to source their own accommodation,” he said. “For a two bedroom, it’s $300 a night. And roughly $100-$120 in food per person.

“They had been a little bit slow with payments. I think it took about one-and-a-half weeks to process my claim after I submitted it. From their end I can kind of understand why they are a little bit slow – there are 300 apartments they have to work through.”

Residents of Opal Tower must spend another week away from their homes Read more

On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Icon said all residents would have their accommodation paid for as long as it took for their apartments to be declared safe. But Dave said he had not yet heard this from Icon.

“They have not sent out any communication about covering the costs that extend beyond Friday – which is a little bit concerning,” he said. “A lot of the people I’ve spoken with are at Airbnbs and hotels, which require notice to extend.”

An email to residents, obtained by Guardian Australia, said the allowances ranged between $220 and $500 a night.

Residents receive $220 a night for a one-bedroom unit, $300 for two bedrooms, $400 for three bedrooms and $500 for four bedrooms.

Icon evacuated the building on 27 December and, last Friday, the NSW planning minister, Anthony Roberts, said nobody should be moved back until the tower was cleared by government investigators.

The government investigation is being led by two professors of engineering from the University of NSW and the University of Newcastle. On Friday, Roberts said an “initial report” should be ready during the next week.

When asked whether some residents could return this week, the Icon spokeswoman said it depended on the government’s report.

“We are certainly hopeful it will be this Friday but we cannot preempt the government’s independent engineers,” she said. “For around 50 apartments who are on the original vertical line where the issue occurred, residents will need to be out for a longer period of time. They will progressively return over the coming four to six weeks.

“We are speaking to them on a one-to-one basis, looking for significant long-term accommodation in the form of Airbnbs or serviced apartments. As soon as their apartment is spick and span we will be doing everything we can to relocate them.

“For the time they are required to find accommodation elsewhere, we will meet their accommodation costs and their reasonable living expenses as we have done up to this point.”

The professors’ interim briefing found there were no issues with the building’s foundations but that there were “design and construction issues”.