Stellar’s Gary Young claims Berenger owes almost $160,000 for work on the seven apartments and says the battle with Berenger has “killed his business”, which is in the hands of liquidators. “She had no real idea about what she was doing,” Young said.
“She claims to be a successful developer but I think it was only her second job. I tried to help her. But about halfway through the job she stopped paying.”
Letters from Mr Young’s legal team claim Berenger was forced to pay the embattled builder after she stopped settling bills, reports the Herald Sun.
“She was so pedantic and her expectations were unrealistic. She found defects but they were so minor. Then they just locked us out of the site,’’ she said. “It’s been extremely stressful. It’s killed my business. I’ve had better years but at least I’m still breathing.”
However, Berenger is counter suing on the grounds Stellar ran late with the work and did not complete the job to her satisfaction.
The successful property developer claimed Young has already been overpaid for the work and is demanding more than $170,000 to cover alleged defects and overpayments.
“I have nothing to be ashamed of, no skeletons in my closet,” she said. “We are suing the builder for unfinished and defective works and that builder has since gone into administration.”
“I can’t say too much about it because it’s still before the courts. It is an unfortunate situation. The builder I normally use was unavailable so against my better judgment I used someone else and unfortunately the work was not up to my particular standards.”
Photo Credit: Foxtel