Controversial property developer Jean Nassif has been suspended from holding a building licence in NSW for 10 years, while the building licence of his company, Toplace, has been permanently revoked.
The NSW Department of Fair Trading imposed the bans, which will come into effect next week, after an investigation.
The investigation found more than 40 defects in residential developments constructed by Toplace: the Atmosphere and Skyview developments at Castle Hill in Sydney’s north-west; and the Vicinity building in the inner west suburb of Canterbury.
Stripping Toplace of its building licence could have ramifications for the construction of a commercial centre it has underway in Box Hill in Sydney’s north-west, and, more than 1,000 apartments across other developments.
However, the developer intends to engage a separate building company to ensure construction continues while it continues to act as the developer.
“Toplace will continue as a developer and construction will continue on Toplace sites without interruption with alternative arrangements in place,” a company spokesperson said.
“Toplace will challenge the notices issued and is confident that the court will overturn the notices.
“The department has a track record of issuing defective notices to Toplace which have failed when subject to external scrutiny.
“Toplace has always stood by its projects and where defects have occurred it has returned to fix them like all other major developers.”
Toplace and Mr Nassif rocketed to prominence in 2019 when a social media post of him presenting his wife with a yellow Lamborghini went viral.
The company has repeatedly clashed with NSW building authorities over alleged defects in some of its residential towers.
In July last year, Toplace entered into an extraordinary agreement with apartment owners at its $900 million Skyview development, after allegations of serious
NSW Building Commissioner David Chandler had earlier issued an order preventing Toplace from settling with owners who had bought off-the-plan in two of the five towers in the complex after government inspectors found cracking in the basement slabs.
A subsequent report by independent engineers found rectification works and ongoing monitoring would not “affect the integrity and overall performance of the building”.
Toplace then agreed to be liable for structural issues in the development for 20 years and cover any defects for 10 years, backed by an $11 million security guarantee – the first agreement of its type ever struck in NSW.
The Department of Fair Trading has been investigating Toplace and early this month issued the banning notices which are due to take effect from December 15 for the company and December 16 for Mr Nassif.
“Toplace and Mr Nassif have 28 days from the date of the disciplinary decisions to lodge an internal review or appeal to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal,” a NSW Fair Trading spokesperson said in a statement.
“To date, no application has been made.”
Toplace has engaged barrister Scott Robertson SC to appeal the banning orders in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The World Observer Media produces a daily online newspaper, a daily Arabic online newspaper and a monthly printed Arabic/English magazine and a weekly printed Arabic/English newspaper.
The World Observer Media’s mission is to entertain and educate all generation from the Ethnic Communities in Australia, who are interested in local, national and foreign information. 
