New development post settlement electrical certification delays – seeking experiences and direction

Hi all,

I recently settled on my first off the plan property. One major issue that came up post settlement was that the electrical certification provided by the electrician was not filled in correctly and by the time this was resolved we had wasted 3 weeks after settlements with no tenants (and it was another couple of days before they installed the new meters). The original paperwork was provided upon settlement and no one realised that the paperwork was wrong till the electricity companies submitted the paperwork to the government office. What also delayed this further was that the electrician tried to shortcut the process by ticking the correct boxes on an old form and submitting that to the authority. They immediately declared that the paperwork had been prepared fraudantly and he had to go to their offices to submit new papers.

My question is, what is the best way to go about to be compensated for this? Has anyone had something similar come up and how did you handle it? And if using a lawyer is the best way, who would you recommend in Melbourne?

It is my first off the plan purchase and while it has mostly been positive as the majority of works were completed to a good standard, I have found the builder chosen took a few shortcuts at the end as they were a few weeks past expected completion date. I also found dealing with the agent who sold the property in the first place to manage the property was a mistake and will choose someone independant next time.

Thank you for your help.