It started as a dream but aspiring home owners Matt Pyatt and Michael Buckingham say it has become a nightmare.
The couple bought a land package as part of a new development in Sydney's south-west in February 2020.
More than two years later, the block remains vacant.
The reason? Sewerage.
The lots are still not connected to a wastewater network and that means no work can begin.
Mr Pyatt and Mr Buckingham have already had to pull out of a contract with their builder because of the delays — something they say has cost about $10,000.
One of their neighbours is facing $50,000 in extra building costs due to the wait.
"It's a bit of a corny phrase, but it is a dream turned into a nightmare," Mr Pyatt said.
A spokesperson for Sydney Water, which is responsible for connecting the development, said there had been a number of unavoidable delays and staff had worked around the clock to minimise the impact.
About 35 buyers are affected by the issue.
Billed as affordable and "enabling you to create the home your family has always wished for", house and land packages at Torana estate started at $660,000.
The price list for land, building and house-and-land packages stated that the blocks would be registered on December 15, 2020, enabling building to start soon afterwards.
It was the opportunity Mr Pyatt and his partner needed to get a foot on the property ladder.
However, they are still not able to register the land in their name and start building because there is no sewerage connection available.
Buyers need to have the land registered in their name with NSW Land Registry Services to get permission to build on it, after all the utilities like water, sewerage, gas and electricity have been connected.
"Even though we knew there was a delay with the water and sewerage, we thought two years was plenty of time," Mr Pyatt said.
Buyers feel 'trapped'
Tariq Mahmood paid a deposit on a Torana estate block in October 2020.
He moved his family to a rented home in Austral and enrolled his three daughters in a local school, anticipating they would be in their new home by late 2021.
Instead, the six-month contract with his builder has expired and he now faces an extra $50,000 in costs to proceed with the build because the pandemic has pushed up the price of building materials and labour.
He is losing hope and feels trapped.
Mr Mahmood said the blame for his cost blowout lay with Sydney Water.
"I'm frustrated and angry with them," he said.
The Austral and Leppington North land, where the Torana estate is located, was rezoned for development in March 2013.
According to the Sydney Water website, final wastewater infrastructure for Austral-Leppington will not be in place until 2026.
In the meantime, interim wastewater infrastructure, including a pumping station and wastewater mains, is expected to be delivered in early 2023.
That could be too late for some aspiring Torana residents.
Mr Pyatt and Mr Buckingham's contract with Kitron has a three-year sunset clause, which means the developer can return their deposit, take back the land and resell it.
In the time since they signed the contact, Sydney house prices have gone up by more than 25 per cent, according to CoreLogic.
Mr Pyatt said he and his partner were "hoping" the developer didn't take the land back.
"We'd be now in a market that's markedly higher and we wouldn't have anything."
He and his partner hope the land will be registered before the sunset clause is activated and they can sell it at a higher price.
The legislation governing sunset clauses was amended in 2015 to require sellers to get a court order to rescind the contract, taking into account the reasons for the delay and whether the seller has acted in bad faith.
"We've come to the realisation now that we can't really afford to build on this land," Mr Pyatt said.
The couple was aware of the risk of buying unregistered land, as opposed to land in an established suburb where all the utilities were in place.
"One of the fundamental things I can't get my head around is how they've allowed this development to take place when there was not going to be any sewerage connection at the end," Mr Pyatt said.
A spokesperson for Sydney Water said the organisation was working to deliver services to the area as a priority.
"[Sydney Water] is actively engaged with the development community and local councils to deliver our infrastructure as soon as possible," they said.
"We have commenced construction, and we are working to provide services by early 2023."
Maha Fatima, who moved her family from Carlingford and enrolled her son in an Austral school over a year ago, is frustrated with the false hope that has come with repeated missed deadlines.
"We are going round and round in circles with the developer and Sydney Water because we were told that this land is going to get registered in 2020, last quarter," she said.
"Then it moved to March, then it moved to June, then the lockdown happened. Then it moved to December and now, we're still here in February and we don't have a date yet."
Project plagued by delays
In a recorded presentation to the community in March 2021, Sydney Water said there had been a 130 per cent increase in the density of housing, which had resulted in a six-month delay.
The presenter said an interim phase of wastewater service would be delivered in mid-2022, with construction to start in December 2021.
Investigative work was put on hold in July 2021, when all non-essential construction was halted in Sydney during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The project was further delayed in October 2021, when a cost overrun was identified, according to Sydney Water.
Ms Fatima said she just wanted a date when the wastewater would be in place and the land could be registered in her name.
"I've sacrificed everything that I could. Travel, food — [I've] cut down on these [thinking] let's get this money for the dream home," she said.
"Nobody can give us the answer."
Mr Pyatt said the price of building a house had increased and he and his partner were now unlikely to be able to afford a home in Greater Sydney.
"This is the project that just keeps on giving. Because, you know, it's just a project for them [Sydney Water], but obviously, it's a lot more to us," he said.
Kitron, the developer of the Torana estate, did not respond to ABC requests for comment.
