Anne Cahill Lambert and her husband were excited about starting the next chapter of their lives after selling their family home in Canberra's inner-north and purchasing a new city apartment.
But three years on from the move, Ms Cahill Lambert said she was still dealing with defects in her apartment's bathrooms and balcony.
Ms Cahill Lambert, a former chair of the ACT Remuneration Tribunal, said her complex's owners' corporation had spent close to $400,000 trying to ensure the developer rectified defects in multiple apartments and balconies.
She said after ventilation problems were identified in her apartment's bathroom, she was advised to keep the window and door open while showering.
"Which is just lovely having a shower and so forth, particularly in the middle of winter,'' Ms Cahill Lambert said.
"Then it was identified there were lots of problems in the 320-odd apartments that are in our building complex and so a major project was undertaken to identify the defects.
"To date, we're knocking on the door of about $400,000 going out to lawyers and other professionals.''
Ms Cahill Lambert said some of her neighbours had been unable to sell their properties.
"Potential buyers are frightened they're going to be up for more legal fees and so forth before they actually get their apartments fixed,'' she said.
In a bid to reduce the prevalence of defects in high-rise buildings, the ACT government plans to introduce a team of public servants to oversee building certification.
Ms Cahill Lambert has welcomed the plan, provided it is not watered down over time.
"We want to make sure that the developers are held to account,'' Ms Cahill Lambert said.
Change of plan
The government's proposed model of having a publicly funded team to oversee building certification is different to the one that was pledged before the 2020 ACT election.
From July next year, the team will review building design documents prior to construction commencing, and attend mandatory inspections alongside the private certifiers who sign off on developers' work.
Previously, the government had committed to introducing public sector certifiers who would be authorised to sign off on construction activity themselves.
ACT Minister for Sustainable Building and Construction Rebecca Vassarotti said the new proposal would provide a thorough "quality assurance" throughout the construction process.
"All of the evidence suggests that is a much better way to deliver the outcome of better quality for consumers," she said.
Ms Vassarotti said the change would lift the overall quality of certification work.
"[If we had] a team of people delivering the same services just with another entity, we weren't necessarily going to get a very different outcome," she said.
"This will mean that [for] private certifiers that are not doing their job properly, there will be nowhere to hide."
Earlier this year, the government passed legislation to introduce a licensing scheme for property developers, and to make developers personally liable for fixing any defects.
It was prompted by widespread reports of defects throughout Canberra in recent years, which the ACT government estimates cost more than $50 million per year.
Ms Vassarotti said in combination, the two changes would dis-incentivise "cosy relationships" between developers and certifiers which could see them sign off on a "dodgy development".
"We've shifted the rules of the game," she said.
Initially, the change will apply only to Class 2 apartment developments, but it is expected to be expanded over time.
Industry warning on building delays
Master Builders ACT acting CEO Ziad Zakout said there was still a place for private certifiers and it was essential that the new quality assurance team was properly resourced.
"The certifiers that they're getting on board need to have the appropriate industry experience to do the role, and I think if that is the case it shouldn't cause any delay," he said.
"They should just keep things going and have a second set of eyes to make sure that defects are picked up at the building process, and not after the building's complete."
Mr Zakout said some members were concerned about the potential for additional costs and time delays.
"I think if it's not properly resourced and builders and struggling to get certifiers in to inspect the sites, it will definitely cause delays for our builders," he said.
"If they're waiting for two, three, four weeks to get a certifier on site it just means the building's delayed by that long."
Real Estate Institute ACT chief executive Maria Edwards said the additional certification could cause delays and more information was needed.
"I'd say there probably is a genuine risk [of delays], not knowing how big the team is going to be," Ms Edwards said.
"It'd be really good to have more detail about how it's going to happen, because the delay is a huge issue, and that delay equals cost in the ACT."
