COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, December 08, 2008

QUESTION NO.4

QUESTION: Councillor R. Dowds

To ask The Manager to outline how Housing Estates with Management Companies could be taken in charge by South Dublin Co. Council and the timescale involved? 

REPLY:

There is no provision for the taking in charge of estates by the Council where management companies are in operation.

In the case of Housing Developments which include apartments, the common areas associated with apartments are not taken in charge by the County Council.

In the case of such developments the Council, by way of the insertion of a planning condition, require that Management Companies be established to ensure the maintenance and upkeep of the common areas within the development.

The purpose of the above requirement is to protect future purchasers by ensuring that a Management Company is put in place to ensure the upkeep and maintenance of common areas within the development such as car spaces, green verges, on-site access avenues or driveways, roofs and external fabric of the building/s and also internal common services and shared areas such as corridors, floors, walls, attic tanks and plumbing, which are external to the apartment itself.

Legally the ownership of the common areas in such developments is vested in the management company and therefore a contract exists between the purchasers and the Management Company. The ownership issues and responsibilities are ordinarily enshrined in the contract to purchase entered into between the developer and the purchaser.

The Council is not a party to this contract.