Anthony Griffiths purchased an apartment at High Society, one of three buildings in Geocon's Republic Precinct, as an investment property in October 2021.

While The Canberra Times understands Geocon fixed or provided credit for most of the items on the apartment's defect list prior to settlement, Mr Griffiths said there are still outstanding items yet to be completed, including repainting and a door replacement.

Separate to Mr Griffiths' apartment, there are reports of issues within the building affecting all residents, such as an instance where a glass panel shattered and fell onto balconies and a power outage which forced the closure of common areas for a period of time.

Posts in a Facebook group seen by The Canberra Times show concerns from residents regarding water leaking in corridors and the basement and fire alarms sounding multiple times per week.

When the claims were put to Geocon, a spokesperson from the company said the developer was "continuing to work collaboratively with the strata and executive committees to resolve any remaining maintenance items for the Republic Precinct".

Vantage Strata declined to comment.

Prior to settlement in October 2021, Mr Griffiths inspected his apartment and identified multiple defects, which a Geocon salesperson assured him would be fixed before the settlement date.

"This is a brand new apartment and there was paint on carpets, the doors are damaged, some of the fascia on the outside of the building is damaged," he said.

Mr Griffiths said he settled in October under the impression the remaining works would be completed soon after.

"I wanted to do the right thing by the tenants so I settled," he said.

"I went in with my eyes open, [but I] didn't expect eight months of waiting."

Following repeated attempts to organise with the developer and various suppliers to have the defects fixed, Mr Griffiths said he is requesting compensation in order to complete the repairs himself.

He said he has asked the developer for $15,000 to "sort it out myself".

"The building, from what I understand, is now handed over [to the strata management company]," Mr Griffiths said.

"This building's a year and a half old. There needs to be some kind of responsibility or accountability back to the developer."

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Christopher Kerin, principal at Kerin Benson Laywers and strata litigation specialist, said many owners request compensation in these situations but "it very rarely happens" due to the costs involved with litigation.

"There's no magic bullet here. That's the problem. I suppose in a nutshell, there's nothing people can really do to protect themselves completely," he said.

"People in Canberra are generally reluctant to litigate ... but there are some significant rights here."

While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to defect disputes, Mr Kerin said there are four broad categories that commonly apply in these instances:

Mr Kerin said "typically, many builders will come back and fix small defects".

"But that's not the problem," he said. "The problem is larger, expensive defects because that's when it's going to cost real money."

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