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Gerald Donnelly, a former abbatoir worker, and wife Grace in the house in Homebush they have rented for 33 years. Photo: Nic Walker
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Some of Australia's wealthiest and best-connected business people are behind the company that issued elderly tenants with negotiable termination notices for 12 previously government-owned houses in Homebush. The company sold the houses within months of acquiring them, almost doubling its investment.
Centennial Property Group offered cash settlements and asked the tenants to leave the properties on Welfare Street and Flemington Road in Homebush shortly after buying the properties from the state government's Sydney Olympic Park Authority in June.
Seven families moved out but five are fighting to stay, including Gerald and Grace Donnelly. The five families armed with sales documents that specify they are protected tenants. They also have letters from the previous owners, the state government's Sydney Olympic Park Authority, which say there was no intention to end their tenancies.
Alex Waislitz, part-owner of Centennial Property Group. Photo: Luis Enrique Ascui
CPG's owners include Alex Waislitz, a long-standing adviser to the Pratt family and worth hundreds of millions of dollars in his own right. The other owners are Deborah Clarke, and Michael and Clive Baskin through their company Baskin Clarke, which is described on their website as an "ethical financial advisory firm".
One of the directors of the company is Lance Rosenberg, the former head of stockbroking house Tricom. Mr Rosenberg successfully overturned a ban on acting as a company director in the wake of the near-collapse of his stockbroking company Tricom during the global financial crisis. On its website, CPG lists its executive team as Lyle Hammerschlag, Jonathan Wolf and Kim Kitchen. Mr Hammerschlag is the son of former Freedom Furniture boss Ivan Hammerschlag.
The Homebush deal is a spectacular outcome for the publicity-shy Centennial Property Group. The group won the state government tender for the property in June, and added $4.7 million to the property price tag in just six months.
The company purchased the single-title block from the state government's Sydney Olympic Park Authority for $5.8 million. After subdividing the block and having seven of the 12 families leave, the company sold the houses separately to investors at auction last Saturday for a total of $10.5 million.
Selling agent Robert Pignataro, of Strathfield Partners, told Fairfax Media last week that it had not been difficult to find buyers.
"We gave one a coat of paint and polished the floors and put some furniture in there – that was the extent of what we did," Mr Pignataro said.
They asked the existing tenants to move out in 30 days.
"We are not looking at kicking any of them out – they can either stay [at the same rent] or opt to negotiate with us to receive a lump-sum cash settlement, which will be attractive," Mr Pignataro said.
But as the families who are refusing to move are protected tenants, the new owners will face a lengthy legal battle if they try to coerce the residents to leave or raise their rent.
Senior policy officer at the Tenants Union of NSW Chris Martin said it would be much harder for the new owners to dislodge the remaining tenants if they were protected.
"Unlike mainstream tenancies, you can't have your lease terminated without grounds. So new owners would need to be able to prove the tenant needed to go, and they won't be able to raise rents to the market value," Dr Martin said.
One of the families fighting for their home are Bruce and Lyn Begnell.
"We were meant to vacate the house on December 13. But the five of us are protected tenants and we sought legal advice and were advised we didn't need to leave," Mrs Begnell said.
Mr Begnell is 80, legally blind and unwell. Mrs Begnell says she has letters from his doctors and cardiologists about the stress moving would cause.
"The whole thing is so dodgy. The Sydney Olympic Park has to be held to account."
The team behind CPG was contacted for comment but remain tight-lipped on who made the decision to request the tenants leave or how they got the property so cheaply given their exit value.
A spokeswoman for Mr Waislitz confirmed he was one of the shareholders of CPG, but said he was not involved in the day-to-day running of the company.
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