AN ALFREDTON company is embroiled in a legal wrangle with a New South Wales-based property developer-broker accused of rorting an Australian government housing scheme.
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Macneil Group, a construction and development company, paid the developer-broker money in February 2013 to secure National Rental Affordability Scheme (NRAS) incentives for 30 houses it built in the area over the past year.
On Thursday, The Courier reported police were investigating the property developer-broker for fraud after it allegedly told three local charities it could provide government funds for social housing projects.
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The broker allegedly told the agencies it could secure $100,000 over 10 years for each NRAS-accredited unit they built, but would have to pay the company $15,000 for every unit that was successfully funded.
Macneil Group director Paul McCuskey said it was “in dispute” with the developer-broker over unpaid incentives for the houses it built, and was “concerned about the outcome”.
“They told us they have provided the incentives and they haven’t,” he said.
Mr McCuskey said Macneil Group, which has built 120 units over the past four years under the NRAS scheme, relayed concerns about alleged fraud to the state government in April.
Mr McCuskey said as the developer-broker was an approved NRAS participant and all legal channels were followed, his company was surprised by the result.
“We did all the right things and clearly we’ve been caught out,” he said.
The Courier reported on Thursday that a pool of NRAS grants was made available for student accommodation for Federation University, which the companies were told by the developer-broker could be transferred into social housing.
Federation University senior adviser media and government relations, Matthew Freeman, said in 2011 the university received an NRAS allocation for provision of affordable rental dwellings within Ballarat, which was not pursued.
“With the objective of increasing the supply of affordable accommodation in Ballarat, the benefits of the allocation were legitimately passed on to a private developer. The university has received no financial gain from this arrangement,” he said.
The Courier contacted the developer-broker but it declined to respond.
william.vallely@fairfaxmedia.com.au