COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, April 14, 2025

QUESTION NO. 12

QUESTION: Councillor R. Mannion

To ask the Chief Executive to provide clear guidance on the taking-in-charge process for estates/developments not yet maintained by the council that are outside of developer guarantee requirements (i.e. not new-build/recently completed) please

REPLY:

When a developer completes a residential estate, the land, the houses and apartments and services are in the developer's ownership. This means the estate is private property and therefore, the maintenance and upkeep of that estate remains with the developer.

The developer can set up a management company,  where the responsibilities for the upkeep and maintenance is transferred to this company.

Where / if a developer gets into financial difficulty, a liquidator or receiver may be appointed to manage the housing estate assets. They can either set up a Owner Management Company or they can apply to get the estate Taken in Charge (TIC) by the Council.  

Generally, the Taking in Charge process begins when the developer, OMC or liquidator / receiver submits a Taking in Charge application to the Council.

However, in cases where the developer, the OMC or liquidator is not engaging for a considerable time, the majority of owners of the houses involved may request that the Taking In Charge process be instigated.   More than 50% of the home owners must be in favour of the proposal that the estate be Taken In Charge.   There are certain limitation to the use of this proposal which are outlined in the Planning Act.

If a Taking in Charge process is not fully and properly concluded, the council will not maintain that estate. This is because it remains private property until the statutory TIC process is fully completed.