On Monday morning Anil Konda got the keys to his family's dream home, only to receive an email just seven hours later saying the property was needed for Bruce Highway upgrades.
He put the initial deposit down on the land in Griffin, north of Brisbane, in March last year.
After relocating his young family of four to Queensland, finding a school and rental property and enduring 11 months of building delays, Mr Konda said the relief of finally having access to their new home was short-lived.
The email from the state government's Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) said Mr Konda needed to call them for more information on the "future land requirement" and he received a call back from the department in the afternoon.
"When I asked specific details like, 'How is it impacted? Am I going to lose a certain amount of land?', they told me like it's going to be the entire thing," he said.
"The entire house has to be taken out."
The family's plans for the foreseeable future are now on hold.
"We wanted to personally see the construction. This is our first home — we lived in an apartment but we always wanted a bigger place for the kids to grow up," he said.
"Last week my kids picked the colours, my son and my daughter picked the colours … I was planning to start the work today, paint the rooms, fix some furniture.
"They just took away the joy of our new home.
"It doesn't matter if it happens in a year, in two years or three years … we know that they're going to take it away.
"We don't have the belongingness (sic)."
'I just need an explanation'
Mr Konda's family is not alone.
Their home is in the relatively new Aspire development, where some lots have been purchased but still lie vacant, several houses are still being built, and most residents in the area have only moved in within the past three months.
A TMR spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday afternoon the owners of 24 residential lots on Venture Drive, which runs along the Bruce Highway, were contacted about the plans.
Charmaine and James Jackson managed to buy their first block of land, have their second baby and start building their dream home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"It was eight days after he was born we went to the office to pick out our tile colours, our paint and everything like that," Mrs Jackson said.
The couple and their two children moved in on September 1.
The couple's second child has just turned one — they were hoping to stay in the area until both boys had graduated from school.
"I just need an explanation," Mr Jackson said.
"How could this have happened where you've allowed people so freshly to have built new houses only to tell them that they're going to be torn down in the middle of a housing crisis."
After receiving the email on Monday night, Mr Jackson contacted the department to ask why the title was allowed to be registered.
"They said when Aspire put in the planning application we didn't have planning up-to-date at that time to confirm any impacts," he said.
'Residents need certainty'
Fairland Group Pty Ltd was the developer of Aspire and general manager Scott Searle said the company's ownership of land in the estate ended in October last year.
"Fairland has developed the estate in accordance with all relevant approvals including the necessary works as directed by TMR as a referral agency," Mr Searle said.
"To this extent a large acoustic wall was constructed by Fairland in accordance with the direction of TMR adjacent to the Bruce Highway.
"Settlements of land adjacent to the Bruce Highway were completed between August 2021 and October 2021 and Fairland did not receive any notification from TMR regarding future road resumptions."
He said the consultation summary on highway works that concluded in February 2021 "did not identify any works north of Murrumba Downs".
"If TMR has informed residents of the commencement of future investigation studies or acquisitions, this has been completed independent to any previous or current landowners," Mr Searle said.
The Moreton Bay Regional Council Mayor and Deputy Mayor have not been briefed by TMR on the Griffin property resumptions, and will be meeting with them next week.
The news comes as the state government is about to begin a summit tomorrow, to address the state's growing housing crisis.
Project in 'very early planning stages'
Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said residents in the planning area for the Gateway Motorway and Bruce Highway Upgrades project have been notified of the plans for resumption.
"Let's be very clear, this project is in the very early planning stages and residents who are potentially impacted are the first to be notified – as it should be," he said.
"We'll know much more specific numbers when we get further into the planning and the community consultation," Mr Bailey said.
"This has been an announced upgrade with joint federal and state government funding since 2019, so it would surprise me if local governments are saying they haven't heard about this, it's been in the public domain for three years.
"If we do require someone's property, we get independent evaluations and market rates, so that we make sure that people who are impacted in the end, that they are looked after and that they get fair value and compensation.
"It's never a good process and of course these are relatively recent approvals by the local governments involved, so I can appreciate why they would feel aggrieved by the process."
Mr Bailey said time frames for design and construction would be informed by the planning and business case.
