Their happy smiles hide the complete “nightmare” this Sydney family are living through after their dream home suddenly ruined their lives.

A Sydney building company, whose owner went on holiday to Europe after no work had been done on homes for months has surrendered its building licence, but has so far avoided legal attempts to wind it up, leaving families feeling “helpless”.

News.com.au exclusively revealed last month homeowners were “distressed” as they poured hundreds of thousands into unfinished houses and face never being able to complete them.

The families had signed up to build with Ajit Constructions but emails to buyers in recent months spoke about a “cash crunch” and being “tight on cashflow”.

The desperate families continue to be left “frustrated” and feel “helpless” as they are left in limbo, claiming there has still been no communication from the company or work on their homes.

Many have been forced to lodge cases with the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) to try and claw back hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Do you have a similar story? Email sarah.sharples@news.com.au

Neeraj Sikka and his family are among the impacted homeowners, who have been building an $885,000 home, which was meant to be completed by June this year, in the suburb of North Kellyville.

Instead, the 46-year-old has been left with a half-built house that has no roof and has been exposed to months of rain leaving the floorboards mouldy and black, said Mr Sikka.

The public servant has poured $387,000 into the house, yet it still remains at the frame stage and the family is facing financial ruin as the project has stalled for at least three months, he claimed.

“I am very distressed. I can’t sleep at night. I’m talking to a psychiatrist and I’m on blood pressure medication right now,” he told news.com.au last month.

“I might have to end up with nothing as I owe money to the bank I can’t pay every week, I can’t sustain the $1500 every week and for the last so many months nothing is happening on site.”

Documents show the company surrendered its licence on the 9 September and can now only work on contracts that do not require insurance under the home builder compensation scheme.

This means Ajit Constructions can’t work on projects worth more than $20,000.

“For several weeks now, all families have been running around to prove that (the company) is in breach and his license should have been cancelled to trigger our insurance claim,” Mr Sikka said.

The family’s NCAT case was initially heard on Friday, with Mr Sikka’s wife Gautami Arora outlining the current heartache they are experiencing.

“We had a dream and it has ruined our life. We are going through a terrible time and there is not even a single day we can have a proper sleep,” the mum of two told the tribunal in tears.

“I was more of a homemaker and looking after my family but I have to go back to work. But I’m working seven days to support them.”

Mr Sikka told the tribunal the family’s relationship has been badly impacted by their experience and he had received no response to emails or legal letters to Ajit Constructions.

He added taking the company through the civil tribunal was their “last resort” as they were “desperate”.

Ajit Constructions’ lawyer, Daniel Ivers from law firm Madison Marcus, confirmed at the NCAT hearing that the licence had been surrended so the company was “not completing work” anymore.

Ajit Constructions is currently facing a winding up order in Supreme Court from a roofing supplier, which is due to be heard this week, but Mr Ivers said lawyers were currently “negotiating” and it was not yet clear if the case would proceed.

If Ajit Constructions does not go into liquidation, the families are unable to claim on their home warranty insurance.

Mr Sikka opted to adjourn the NCAT proceedings to wait to see if Ajit Constructions would go into liquidation.

NCAT’s senior member David Goldstein, who was overseeing the proceedings, told the family he was sure their experience had been a “complete nightmare” and he understood their predicament, but he could not make any money orders while the company was still solvent.

He added it would take six or seven months for the family to have their “day in court”.

Eleven families under ‘stress’

Eleven other families have also lodged cases, which were also heard on Friday, although they were told there were was no ability to launch a class action through NCAT.

Many of the families told NCAT about their financial, “medical and emotional” stress and the “hard times” they were experiencing as their homes remain unfinished.

One couple revealed they were claiming $157,000 for incomplete work and additional costs for defective work.

Another said they would claim for the increased cost of building, direct payment to suppliers and loss of money from renting.

One mum also revealed she had actually been employed by Ajit Constructions while building with them.

News.com.au reached out to Ajit Constructions for comment but did not hear back.

Among the families appearing at the tribunal was Manish Agrawal who previously told news.com.au that despite paying $152,000 for construction, including $12,000 directly to suppliers for window frames and bricks, he only has a slab and partition wall on his property.

The dad of two describes the experience as “horrible” and quotes seen by news.com.au shows he will be forced to pay out a large amount of money for a new builder ranging up to $260,000.

Then there’s Reza Thebuwana who has already paid $297,000 to Ajit Constructions for a single-storey, four-bedroom home in Nirimba Fields, but has described the situation last month as a “living nightmare”.

The 39-year-old said he had paid to lock up stage, yet part of the roof is not complete meaning water seeps into the internal walls and there is mould on the gyprock showing.

There are no kitchen fittings and the electrical work and plumbing hasn’t even started, while the bathroom is also missing tiles, he added.

Engineer Imran Ali said he doesn’t know how he will ever complete his family house after forking out $270,000 to Ajit Constructions.

He claims no work has happened since just after mid-May and says he has been left with just a shell of a house and he had lost “hope”.

Then there’s Ashish Kandoi who had Ajit Constructions agree to pay $3200 a month if his house wasn’t finished by February this year in an email seen by news.com.au.

Yet the house remains incomplete and he said it is unlivable after paying the company $330,000 for the build.

Accountant Dharmesh Shah paid $67,000 but has been left with a slab and half the framing for a house but no work has been done on the site since February this year, the month the house was meant to be complete.

The 11 families all elected to continue their cases with a timetable set down for evidence to be served to Ajit Constructions’ lawyers.

The cases will return to NCAT in November.

Mr Goldstein added during the NCAT hearing for the 11 families that he understood it had been a “very unpleasant time for a great number of people”.

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