Management Companies... Vital Info 4 U

eamo73

here is a few pages of info i have put together on MANAGEMENT COMPANIES.
hope it helps!
its a copy of several emails i have previously sent
eamo73 aka EAMONN

Dear Councillors,
Deputies,
Minister,
following is a statement I read out at a press conference organised by Joe Higgins TD and Catherine Murphy TD on Feb 28th.
I respectfully submit this to you all, as we need all the help, support, advice we can get.
We are residents who are cught up in the PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANY structure.
I will be in touch again, on behalf of our residents, and residents all across Balbriggan who are similarly affected.

My name is Eamonn Smith and I am the chairperson of a residents committee recently formed in Barons hall Balbriggan, representing
the concerns of residents affected by management companies
and campaigning for the abolition of the management company structure foisted upon us.

I speak to you as an affected homeowner, and representative of the comments and sentiments expressed by fellow residents in Barons hall.

Management companies in developments charge enormous fees for the maintenance of basic public services, which, elsewhere in Ireland, are funded from general taxation.

Fingal County Council, among other local authorities, has been very active in pushing management companies. These local authorities put the formation of management companies as a condition of giving planning permission.

This is a very clever, deceitful and downright dishonest way of privatising public services, services that the local authority should be responsible for maintaining, as in all previously built estates.

This means a new tax on homeowners in affected areas.

Local authorities explain this with the line
"the increase in housing density requires this".
I submit that this is totally false.

What IS clear is that with our rapidly expanding population and the property development therein, there is a massive increase in the number of residential units allowed per acre.

This now means that residents buying properties from these developments can expect to pay a direct AND an indirect tax.

New developers reap huge dividends from management companies.
In the past, the developer has always had to cover basic maintenance of their developments until the local authority takes charge. For the developer this could mean several years.
NOW, they can foist massive fees for basic maintenance onto residents, from whom they have already made massive profits.

Service charges themselves, or maintenance fees, usually cover the cost of general maintenance, building insurance, waste disposal, security.
The bulk of the service charge on residents is made up of two things;
1. Administrative fees
IE a management company charging a homeowner, for the very letters they send to the homeowner, detailing monies owed by the homeowner to the management company.

2. Paying the management company salaries.

While I appreciate that there needs to be legislation and proper regulation for property management with regard to apartments and their maintenance, insurance, etc, it is very important to remember that,
as service charges are set each year by management companies, it is impossible for buyers to determine how high their future maintenance costs will be.

A typical contract binds a potential buyer to pay the service charge that the management company
"In its sole discretion deems to be fair and reasonable payment in respect of the year then commencing".

I have numerous emails with me from residents in Barons Hall, stating that their fees have increased by anything up to 50% in the last year.

In our development, I can categorically state that residents feel they have been hoodwinked into having a management company.

Whatever about having a management company in place for apartments (and then not actually carrying out services),
where on earth are they allowed to sink their teeth into houses, where owners pay their own insurance and do not get any building maintenance or security.

With this management company in place, my fellow residents and I are enduring disgraceful graffiti not removed properly, rubbish strewn everywhere, abandoned cars simply left in residential parking areas, burned out cars, so called common areas, which , pictorial evidence will show are massive mounds of earth and rubble left unattended. Areas throughout the development have broken glass on the ground, where cars have been broken into. There appears to be no security in place. The glass in the resident car park behind my house has been on the ground since Jan 2004, that's two years. I myself made an attempt to clear some away.

In November, our management company presented a shambolic AGM, with no directors present, merely a Chairman and an accountant.
The was no structure to the meeting, no information handed out or presentations made, nothing whatsoever.
At this AGM, in one particular instance, the management company chairman undertook to investigate alternatives to each resident having their own wheelie bin, which the resident could leave out for collection when THEY chose.
A move to communal bins was suggested by the management company. This was unanimously rejected out of hand by residents who ventured their opinion,
as this would mean residents, in their annual invoice, basically being charged weekly, whether they put a bin out or not.
The management company chairman promised to research the matter further and get back to the residents. In act act of total deceit, the chairman forced through the introduction of the communal bin system, having consulted NOBODY from the residents. As chairperson of the Barons Hall group i can assure you that nobody was approached or consulted. The committee certainly was not. This serves as a total slap in the face to all residents, and underlining that residents are apparently tied into a contract over which they have no control, or opinion,
and the management has, it would seem, sole authority to do as they please and charge as they please.

On many occasions I have walked around Barons Hall and found many things amiss or broken, front doors to apartment complexes, which do not close,
broken intercom, broken buzzers, halls in total darkness,
houses with rubbish strewn all across their fronts and on paths and roads,
roads in absolutely desperate condition.
I personally fear for my children's safety on these roads with the speeds that cars are allowed drive through the development, as we have no yellow lines, speed ramps, 5mph speed limit signs etc. anywhere in Barons Hall.

Several times I put it directly to the management company chairman, who has simply said that this is not the case,they provide us good service,
and anyway we all signed up to this so it really doesn't matter what we think, we are tied into a management company through our contract.

This is absolutely disgraceful. The entire development is a disgrace and does not remotely suggest, to me anyway, that anybody is actually taking charge of maintenance.

I can categorically state that I personally have received NO service or maintenance whatsoever about my property, except perhaps for a little chipped bark outside my front door in 2003.
Why then am I expected to pay a bill for €492.00 for no services rendered.
Residents who have so far been in contact with the committee share these feelings.

Currently, NO legislation exists, and NO government department has ANY responsibility for the regulation of service charges and property management companies,
as these agreements are considered contractual. It does not seem to matter that no resident is made aware of this clause in their contract until long after they have signed it. That is certainly my own personal experience.

I thoroughly welcome initiatives such as this press conference, as residents nationwide are being duped out of millions of euros.

I call on all residents who share these views, to take action to protect their interests. From a personal standpoint, I would be very happy to establish links with similarly affected residents and their committees.

Our committee wishes to wholeheartedly praise the efforts of the residents of Tyrellstown Castlecurrah and Ongar, and the action group working on their behalf. Theirs is a similar tale,
a management company has ignored issues affecting these residents at every turn, and has provided these residents with no service that would justify the fees they demand.
I would call on all residents similarly affected, and their representative groups, to echo these sentiments, and follow the lead of the Tyrellstown campaign.

Our Barons Hall AGM took place in November. We demanded action from our management company. We were asked by them to give them a chance to deliver.
Today is the first of MARCH! Nothing has happened to make residents feel they are any better off.
The managemant company has simply reissued their invoices to us, charging in some cases up to €1400.00. They quickly followed this up with a reminder letter.
Yet, any correspondence or phone calls or emails to the management company are ignored, I am told by other residents, as well as experiencing it personally.
Residents are reluctant to pay a fee having received services that in no way justify the fee. How can they be asked to hand over money for nothing.
Lets not forget, taxpaying residents have ALREADY paid for a service, which the local authority should be providing, as is the case elsewhere.

In closing, I call for, and welcome the introduction of,
a Nationwide action group, to stand up to the bullying intimidatory nature of management companies and the extortionate demands meted out to us by them.

Thank you.
Eamonn Smith
Chairperson
Barons Hall Residents Committee

Dub13

Locked,

No need for two threads on the one subject.Check out Here for the ongoing discussion.