Consumer Affairs Victoria has secured a final injunction against building partnership Bora Homes Australia, after the company left several Victorian Sudanese families homeless due to defective and incomplete building work.
Melbourne Magistrate’s Court imposed a final injunction against Rashid Mpota, of Keysborough, and Emerald Komba, of Braybrook, both 52, who traded as Bora Homes Australia. The pair were also ordered to pay $4648 costs.
The company entered into contracts with consumers who had English as their second language. Thirteen houses were left incomplete, most with only a slab and a poorly erected frame.
The company breached the Fair Trading Act 1999 when houses were left unfinished after builders walked off their jobs.
The Court ordered that Mr Mpota and Mr Komba (personally or as an agent) be restrained from:
- demanding or accepting payment for supplying goods or services, prior to delivery
- demanding or accepting any deposit under any domestic building contract prior to the completion of the building’s base stage
- demanding or accepting any payments for a stage of construction that is incomplete
- demanding or accepting progress payments for any stage of construction beyond the base stage
- disbursing any payments with respect to a domestic building contract, unless to make payments for goods or services directly attributable to the building contract for which the payment was received
- entering into any domestic building contract, as a builder, without the written approval of the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria.