The Mega **Management Company** thread

mikemac

BaZmO* wrote:

The way it works is that if you want to avail of tax relief all you have to do is ring the Tax Office and give them your PRSI number and they will amend your Tax Free Allowance for any rent paid in the future. I think it works out at around €250 per year, but it's only for that amount, it doesn't matter how much rent you pay, everybody gets the same allowance.

However, if you want to claim Tax back for previous years you have to have the Landlord's PRSI number to claim. That's the way it used to be anyway.

Is this right? Can someone else confirm it
I didn't know you could get your tax free allowance amended.
I though you claimed once a year and got a cheque for the full amount
Must give the tax office a call

jetlagged

Ive been reading through this thread for the past hour, as I was considering forming a property management and maintenance company. However, I think I have been put off the idea as it seems quite difficult to keep people happy and/or make a nice living. I cant see where the money is made. Also, when someone sells an apartment, what happens to their % of the reserve fund? do they take it, and the new owner has to replace? Or would the new owner have to pay the seller the percentage, so as the management company couldnt be left in limbo? One things for sure - I'd buy a house above an apartment!

The_Conductor

What happens to their share of the reserve when they sell their apartment?
Their share of the reserve is part of their interest in the apartment, and is, along with whatever obligations are attached to the lease of the apartment, part of the assets sold to the new owner. There is no liquidation of Management Company reserves (other than the usual purchase of goods and services associated with the running of the complex).

I can only imagine the mayhem that would ensue if sellers started trying to reclaim past contributions to Management Companies, and Management Companies demanded large "Golden Hello" sums from new property owners...... Thats the government's golden goose after all (stamp duty etc......)

From past experience- I would have to agree with you- I'd rather buy a house instead of a 900 year lease and the hassles of a management company. Then again, you live, you learn.

Victor

mad m, behave.

BaZmO*

micmclo wrote:

Is this right? Can someone else confirm it
I didn't know you could get your tax free allowance amended.
I though you claimed once a year and got a cheque for the full amount
Must give the tax office a call

It's a Tax Credit that you get. The only way that you get a cheque form the Tax Office nowadays is if they owe you money from previous years. There are lots of things that you can get Tax Credits for, but obviously you have to find these out for yourself, they're not gonna tell you.

mel123

hi, my management company have sent around a letter basically saying that 'it is illegal to park on the foothpath or on a double yellow line'. 'Offending vehicles will be tagged and/or clamped'.
first of all, is it 'illegal' if we are in a 'private' estate - meaning being run by the management company. and secondly, i was under the impression that not just anyone can clamp a vehicle, am i correct?
we only get one parking spot per apartment and the visitor parking is a bit away from us. i want to stress that where i park my car does not affect anyone, but its not in a parking spot - im not the only one who does it by the way.
anyway if anyone would like to share their views on this or if anyone can offer me advise on clamping and putting them sticker things on cars im waiting to hear from you.

mad m

I sympathise with your situation,but if your car is parked on double yellow lines or on a footpath partley or wholely you know the consequences.

RainyDay

jetlagged wrote:

One things for sure - I'd buy a house above an apartment!

It's not that simple - Many houses (particularly but not solely those in gated communities) too involve management companies.

Thomas

I'm in a similar situation, there is one parking space per apartment(even the 3 bedroom ones) and not even one visitor parking spot so people have no choice to to park in undesignated places. Our management company say they are also going to clamp these cars. As far as I know nobody has any legal right to clamp your car unless it's on a public road. On the Ray Darcy Show last week, Ray in a similar situation contacted his solicitor and the solicitor even came on the show and explained how it was in fact illegal for anyone to clamp our car on private property and that we should pay the fine(to at least get the use of our car) and then write to the clamping company demanding an apology and our money back. Which one of us is going to take the hit and test this theory with our own companies tho.......

Tom

mel123

mad m wrote:

I sympathise with your situation,but if your car is parked on double yellow lines or on a footpath partley or wholely you know the consequences.

Im not tho, im not on double yellows, on the path (im just parked against it), there is no sign to say u cant park here etc etc, but im still not in a parking spot - i think technically they cant do anything to me, but just as a matter of interest im wondering can they actually go around with a clamp and start clamping people and demanding €60 to release it, surely not??
Thomas thats interesting, i heard something similar on Gerry Ryan before Christmas and the impression i got from the show was the same as you, basically it cant be done.
Any solicitors out there who can confirm this for us??

mad m

Well if as you said there is no double yellow line and not on the path,as far as I can see your doing no wrong.

BC

It is illegal to park on a footpath but not beside it as far as I can work out.

The details of the Dublin City Council rules are here, see section 'Other Parking Restrictions'.

http://www.dublincity.ie/living_in_the_city/getting_around/by_car/parking/park_legally_in_dublin_city.asp

Victor

People are committing a trespass by parking in inappropriate locations, the management can either clamp and charge release fees or the could make a complaint of trespass which in the district court has fines up to 3,000 euro.

bigmoma

Hi all, googled management co, and came across this thread. Im in an affodable housing scheme. There are 22 houses and 40 appartments. We feel we are realy being ripped off we are paying 1200 per hse and 1600 per apt. Im in one of the hse. I cant see how they can justify charging us such high fees for what is being done, which is hardly anything. We were forced into taking on this co, even though we know that it was not the cheepest quote the developers got. Is there anyone that can offer advice? or anyone in an affordable hosing scheme paying management fees.

Mailman

@bigmoma

the management agent is charging you €1200 so sack your management agent.
Get everyone to attend the AGM. elect residents to the position of secretary, tresurer, and director and self-manage or look for cheaper quotes from another management agent.

I know of an affordable housing scheme which is self-managed by the residents and management fees are only a fraction of what you are paying.
Don't understand why houses are paying a management fee - co. co. should have arranged it so that the houses could avoid the fee as legally it would have been the simplest solution when releasing the development.

mad m

Victor wrote:

People are committing a trespass by parking in inappropriate locations, the management can either clamp and charge release fees or the could make a complaint of trespass which in the district court has fines up to 3,000 euro.

Trespass,even if you live on that same land.Ah its terrible.

Victor

bigmoma, get the accounts and get them to justify them.

Realise that you must keep paying, ther ewere cases recently, I think it was in Fingal where the decision was that you must continue to pay the fees. However you can challenge the fees.

The_Conductor

mad m wrote:

Trespass,even if you live on that same land.Ah its terrible.

Well, you're probably not living outdoors in the carpark. In general once you leave the front door of your apartment (or back door if you're lucky enough to have two....) you are on property that is vested in the Management Company- while you have an interest in that property as an owner of one of the units in the complex, the Management company is perfectly within its rights to clamp (or indeed to sublet parking spaces as one Management Company here in Lucan is doing- to a third party).

To the OP- I believe you are talking about the Management Company clamping cars that are on public property- not part of the complex. I was informed by our companies solicitor that I was not entitled to order our clamping firm to do so (though in our case it would have been counter productive as most of the illegal parking on public property tends to be blocking our entrance/exit). I did initiate public nussiance proceedings against one party who habitually blocked our gates (a certain bakery who felt it was fine to park there while delivering their fresh produce in early morning) and we do habitually sticker cars or other vehicles which block our entrance, but are *not* entitled to clamp them.

I am entitled to clamp to my hearts content any vehicles strewn around the complex though (one party complained bitterly when this happened- until it was pointed out that they were parked over a manhole which just happened to be covering the sewage pipes and also which happened to be blocked. The charge to remove the clamp was less than the wasted call-out fee to Dyno-rod who had to come out again the following day)....... On another occasion- cars parked under the archway in such a way that allowed other cars to come and go unintentionally blocked the entrance to a fire engine. A house fire (caused by a faulty light fitting) spread through attic space and damaged 3 units necessitating over 30,000 Euro of expense in reroofing one of the units and remedial repair work in other units (including repainting of the units). On yet another occasion a resident blocked access to an ambulance to a flat (in which a diabetic resident had collapsed from a low blood sugar and was unconscious on the floor). I had to authorise Dublin Firebrigade to break into one of the units which had an external entrance in order to get into the complex at all (most of the units are empty during the daytime when people are in work).

In many cases leaving cars in non-designated parking spaces can have totally unforeseen consequences. I do sympathise where there are not enough parking spaces to go around. In our case all units are entitled to one parking space- but we have enough spaces to allow two should the need arise (we do not mind visitors etc- we have more than enough spaces to go around). The only clamping we conduct are of vehicles causing nusiances, or commercial vehicles (of any nature). We also operate a warning system- we sticker vehicles 3 times, then we give a verbal warning to the landlord of the owner of the vehicle before we clamp.

To the OP- I do not understand how your management company feel they can clamp vehicles that are not on the complex (if my understanding of your post is correct). If you query it with them- I, and I dare say a lot of people here, would be very curious to know their reasoning......

mad m

^^ Good post,I suppose as you say cars parked can sometimes have an affect without the driver realising it,never really thought of it until you said.

Paulw

Most roads, even within an estate, are maintained by the county council or city council. So, the management company are within their rights to request that double yellow lines are painted. Once there are double yellow lines, then the management company can request permission from the council to have the area monitored by clampers.

Parking on a double yellow line or on a footpath is illegal.

Many people are inconsiderate when parking, blocking road access, water hydrant access, man-hole access etc when they don't park in allocated spaces. Unfortunately most areas only give one space per premises. Bad planning really. Not much you can do about it though.

MorningStar

It is weird the way the management company are being spoken about here. They work for the residents and ultimately in their best interest. As pointed out sometimes people don't see why there is a no parking in the area. As irish drivers are accustomed to substituting road rules with their own rules they really hate it when they are told what to do.
I have no sympathy at all for the OP. They bought a property with one parking spot and then got more than one car. This is their choice to buy a car without having a place to park it. They even suggest they could park in the vistors car parking but it is too far away:eek: It is for VISITORS not people who have two cars and live in the complex. I would say the management company are doing exactly what the vast majority of the other residents want.
FOr people complaining about appartments being built with so few parking spaces, in line with government policy a restriction on the number of parking spaces is typlical. In other words the government do not allow more than one parking space per appartment. It's the opposite of "build it and they will come"

TheMonster

Is it an estate with public access(i.e. no barrier or gate) or a complex (behind gates). If behind a gate or barrier then it is private property if not the roads on the estate (even in front of your house are public property)

Victor

MorningStar wrote:

FOr people complaining about appartments being built with so few parking spaces, in line with government policy a restriction on the number of parking spaces is typlical. In other words the government do not allow more than one parking space per appartment. It's the opposite of "build it and they will come"

Actually, no. Its largely down to local councils to specify how many parking spaces must be provided in a development. Development plans specify a minimum number of spaces in Dublin city centre its one parking space per two aparments. In suburban areas, it might be 1.25 spaces per apartment. For commercial development it typicly something like one space per 10m2 in suburban areas and less along rail lines and in the city centre.

TheMonster wrote:

Is it an estate with public access(i.e. no barrier or gate) or a complex (behind gates).

That isn't the strict definition, its down to whether the council has taken the development in charge.

If behind a gate or barrier then it is private property if not the roads on the estate (even in front of your house are public property)

There are some council properties behind gates and some non-council estates that don't have gates.

mel123

MorningStar wrote:

I have no sympathy at all for the OP. They bought a property with one parking spot and then got more than one car. This is their choice to buy a car without having a place to park it.

Subsequently, i didnt buy the property and THEN buy a second car, like a lot of couples we have, and need, one car each. To be honest, i didnt have much of a CHOICE as you put it, i simply couldnt afford a nice little house with a big driveway to fit the two cars in.

MorningStar wrote:

They even suggest they could park in the vistors car parking but it is too far away:eek: It is for VISITORS not people who have two cars and live in the complex. I would say the management company are doing exactly what the vast majority of the other residents want.

MorningStar - what would you suggest i do, get rid of one of our cars just because there isnt a second car parking spot?? My management company and the auctioneers whom i bought the apartment from actually TOLD people about the visitor parking. As for the 'vast' majority of other residents, they do not want the clamping enforced either and residents are looking into this as a group. We tried to see if we could buy a second parking spot and they told us no we would just have to use the visitors area.

I dont want to get into any heated debate about the rights and wrongs of not parking in a designated spot, my post is simply to find out weather its LEGAL to slap a clamp on a car.

MorningStar

mel123 wrote:

Subsequently, i didnt buy the property and THEN buy a second car, like a lot of couples we have, and need, one car each. To be honest, i didnt have much of a CHOICE as you put it, i simply couldnt afford a nice little house with a big driveway to fit the two cars in.

You had a choice, limited as it is you decide to buy something that did not match your needs. Not the managements fault, governments are anybody else your choice.

mel123 wrote:

MorningStar - what would you suggest i do, get rid of one of our cars just because there isnt a second car parking spot?? My management company and the auctioneers whom i bought the apartment from actually TOLD people about the visitor parking. As for the 'vast' majority of other residents, they do not want the clamping enforced either and residents are looking into this as a group. We tried to see if we could buy a second parking spot and they told us no we would just have to use the visitors area..

I suggest you don't park where you are not allowed and you respect the planning and rules of the complex you bought. THe auctioners will tell you anything to sell the place. It would not surprise me that a member of staff working for the management company would tell you something like park in the visitors parking. You would have signed an agreemnet stating what the rules of the complex are if that says the parking rules what is your complaint?
You may think the vast majority agree with you and you could be right. It only takes one person to be annoyed to insist the rules are enforced. All who bought the properties agreed to these rules they can change them by popular vote.

mel123 wrote:

I dont want to get into any heated debate about the rights and wrongs of not parking in a designated spot, my post is simply to find out weather its LEGAL to slap a clamp on a car.

Yes it is legal AFAIK. What advantage do you think the management company will get from doing this? Either it is dangerous as mentioned earlier or somebody is complaining. All your claims of how it doesn't bother anybody and is safe must be wrong becasue the maangement company wouldn't be bothered doing other wise.

Instead of seeing it is illegal or not why not just accept you are in the wrong from the rules you signed. Take responsibility for what you agreed to or at least tell us how you see it fair that you get a 2nd free parking space for the same price as your neighbour who only gets one.

mel123

MorningStar wrote:

Take responsibility for what you agreed to or at least tell us how you see it fair that you get a 2nd free parking space for the same price as your neighbour who only gets one.

Who said anything about FREE??? If you read my post properly you will see i wanted to BUY a second parking spot.
As for the rest of your argument, save it, im not into having arguments on these boards and getting into petty debates, chill out.

Hagar

Aren't the managment company utimately responsible to the residents/owners of the property?
Surely as a body the residents could have this clamping rule scrapped if they wanted to?

MorningStar

mel123 wrote:

Who said anything about FREE??? If you read my post properly you will see i wanted to BUY a second parking spot.
As for the rest of your argument, save it, im not into having arguments on these boards and getting into petty debates, chill out.

You want it for free becasue you can't buy one. As you can't buy one and are taking it without paying how is that not free? Your desire to pay is irrelevant.

I ask again what motive do you think the management company have for this?

I am asking you to justify yourself and you don't seem to be able to I am not arguing with you.

Paulw

mel123 wrote:

I dont want to get into any heated debate about the rights and wrongs of not parking in a designated spot, my post is simply to find out weather its LEGAL to slap a clamp on a car.

Bottom line - if there are double yellow lines, then it is legal to clamp.

The roads are NOT under the control of the management company, but the local authority, and so even if you force the management company to stop clamping, any resident can request that the local authority enforce clamping.

So, the moral of the story is - don't park illegally or if you do, be prepared to pay the clamper.

lomb

RainyDay wrote:

It's not that simple - Many houses (particularly but not solely those in gated communities) too involve management companies.

as people realise that apartments or any long leasehold arent worth what they are asking i think values will remain depressed relative to freeholds.

it is scandalous that developers have built houses in gated communities and leased them. ok service charges are lower as theres no maintainance of internal common areas and there should only really be public liabilty insurance on the car park to pay.

i think bord pleanala have ruled that there will be severe restrictions on creating gated developments due to creating isolated social communities. however gates or no gates the developer who own the freehold can sell any title he wants and that means if he sells a lease then service charge conditions get attached to the lease..

i know a developer who sold all his apartments due to the hassle of management companies and dilapidations and rememeber this is the developer who built it!!