Buyers to bail out of East West Link apartments Almost all the buyers in a development set to be surrounded by the East West Link will walk away from their apartments and accept an offer to sell their contracts to the State Government. ALMOST all the buyers in a development set to be surrounded by the East West Link will walk away from their apartments and accept an offer to sell their contracts to the State Government. Today was the deadline for buyers in the Evo development in Parkville to notify the Linking Melbourne Authority in writing if they wished to surrender their contracts. Victorian Treasurer Michael O'Brien's office said 156 of the 158 buyers had requested to do so. Buyers are now anxiously waiting for the government to release their valuations on the apartments, due next Thursday, and will have 21 days to accept the offers once they are presented to them. The remaining two buyers will settle their apartments and have the option of selling to the LMA within 90 days or keeping them and applying for compensation for a portion of the common ground acquired for the tunnel, as per the options put forward by Mr O'Brien two weeks ago. "There has been a positive response to the offer presented to Evo purchasers and the majority are seeking a voluntary early purchase process prior to settlement," Mr O'Brien said. The Government has also agreed to buy 17 unsold apartments from the developer. Mr O'Brien's office would not say how much the buyback would cost, but the price tag is reportedly close to $90 million. Under this option, LMA will repay a portion of cash deposits and legal fees, any lost stamp duty benefits and capital appreciation on investments as determined by the Victorian valuer-general. First-home buyers will have their entitlements reinstated. Neil Moreton, who bought a $540,000 apartment off-the-plan at Evo in 2010, said selling was "the only good option." Fellow buyer James Egan agreed, but said apartment owners were concerned about what sort of deal they would get from the government. "I'm hopeful, but I'm not expecting a great deal," he said. Some people have had their money tied up in this for years. Will you get your money back? Could that money have been put elsewhere for the past few years? We'll get our deposits back, but we'll lose that capital gain. Sandrian Perumal, who bought eight apartments as part of an investment group in 2010, said the compensation could still leave him more than $3000 out of pocket. "It definitely doesn't cover my legal or bank costs," Mr Perumal said. I don't know if (the valuations) will even match what we paid. This has been a bit of a nightmare.