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Finding out who maintains apartment block

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  • 05-03-2013 1:27pm
    #1
    Barely Hedged
    Closed Accounts Posts: 992 ✭✭✭


    I'm looking at buying an apartment and was just wondering is there any publicly available information that would give me the name of the management company who the annual service charge is paid to?


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    #2
    Paulw
    Registered Users Posts: 13,381 ✭✭✭✭Paulw


    Barely Hedged wrote: »
    I'm looking at buying an apartment and was just wondering is there any publicly available information that would give me the name of the management company who the annual service charge is paid to?

    Normally the management company is "X Development Management Company Ltd". That is who you pay the management fees to also. You could try a search on the CRO website.

    Of course, that wouldn't name who the management agent is.


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    #3
    Barely Hedged
    Closed Accounts Posts: 992 ✭✭✭Barely Hedged


    Paulw wrote: »
    Normally the management company is "X Development Management Company Ltd". That is who you pay the management fees to also. You could try a search on the CRO website.

    Of course, that wouldn't name who the management agent is.

    Yeah, i tried that but it's quite a popular street name so there are a lot of property and non-property related companies with that street name contained in their company name


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    #4
    Paulw
    Registered Users Posts: 13,381 ✭✭✭✭Paulw


    Try looking on neighbours.ie or else just ask someone in the area.


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    #5
    P. Breathnach
    Registered Users Posts: 12,089 ✭✭✭✭P. Breathnach


    That's information that I would expect the vendor to give fairly early in the negotiation process - certainly before making an offer. I would also ask to see the accounts of the management company.


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    #6
    Barely Hedged
    Closed Accounts Posts: 992 ✭✭✭Barely Hedged


    P. Breathnach wrote: »
    That's information that I would expect the vendor to give fairly early in the negotiation process - certainly before making an offer. I would also ask to see the accounts of the management company.

    I would have thought at the legal stage? Solicitor examines the sink fund etc...


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    #7
    Paulw
    Registered Users Posts: 13,381 ✭✭✭✭Paulw


    Barely Hedged wrote: »
    I would have thought at the legal stage? Solicitor examines the sink fund etc...

    It's one of the first questions I would ask when looking at a development. Not purely the financial status, but looking back a few years to see how it is run.

    Just ask for the info.


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    #8
    Barely Hedged
    Closed Accounts Posts: 992 ✭✭✭Barely Hedged


    Paulw wrote: »
    It's one of the first questions I would ask when looking at a development. Not purely the financial status, but looking back a few years to see how it is run.

    Just ask for the info.

    What sort of questions/topics would you suggest querying?

    Its hard to imagine a management company or vendor giving a negative view on how it has been run in the past


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    #9
    Paulw
    Registered Users Posts: 13,381 ✭✭✭✭Paulw


    The cro will show the accounts for the last number of years, that you can buy. You should also have a look on sites such as neighbours.ie for any feedback (negative and positive) on the performance of the management company.

    Also, do some research on the management agent, and how well they perform their duties.

    You want the management company to perform and be financially stable, as well as being able to run the development properly.


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    #10
    Barely Hedged
    Closed Accounts Posts: 992 ✭✭✭Barely Hedged


    Paulw wrote: »
    The cro will show the accounts for the last number of years, that you can buy. You should also have a look on sites such as neighbours.ie for any feedback (negative and positive) on the performance of the management company.

    Also, do some research on the management agent, and how well they perform their duties.

    You want the management company to perform and be financially stable, as well as being able to run the development properly.

    Neighbours.ie returned a blank but i'll definitely go the CRO route when the name is confirmed.

    Cheers


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    #11
    P. Breathnach
    Registered Users Posts: 12,089 ✭✭✭✭P. Breathnach


    Barely Hedged wrote: »
    I would have thought at the legal stage? Solicitor examines the sink fund etc...
    If you were buying a house, you would get a survey in order to be sure that it was sound. In the case of an apartment, the soundness of the building is the concern of the management company; I would see an examination of the management company's accounts as equivalent to a survey.


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    #12
    odds_on
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,869 ✭✭✭odds_on


    Your solicitor should get all the management company details from the vendor's solicitor.

    I have just withdrawn from the purchase of an apartment in a block of about 60 units because the management company has no sinking fund in place and they only have about 11k funds available with over 175k owed to it in (I assume) unpaid management fees. The ground floor has shops which for the most part, have been vacant for the last couple of years.

    As regards the directors, I get a bit worried when it would appear that several may be related - same surnames and fairly rare one as well.


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    #13
    Barely Hedged
    Closed Accounts Posts: 992 ✭✭✭Barely Hedged


    odds_on wrote: »
    Your solicitor should get all the management company details from the vendor's solicitor.

    I have just withdrawn from the purchase of an apartment in a block of about 60 units because the management company has no sinking fund in place and they only have about 11k funds available with over 175k owed to it in (I assume) unpaid management fees. The ground floor has shops which for the most part, have been vacant for the last couple of years.

    As regards the directors, I get a bit worried when it would appear that several may be related - same surnames and fairly rare one as well.

    Was it your solicitor who wrote to the company and they came back saying what they owed and the size of the sinking fund or did you do some digging yourself with the CRO and the accounts they had published?


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    #14
    odds_on
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,869 ✭✭✭odds_on


    Barely Hedged wrote: »
    Was it your solicitor who wrote to the company and they came back saying what they owed and the size of the sinking fund or did you do some digging yourself with the CRO and the accounts they had published?
    My solicitor requested certain information from the vendor's solicitor and the reply was that the MC did not have a sinking fund. He suggested that this might pose a serious problem if I wanted to sell the property or if there was a serious claim to the sinking fund.

    From searching the internet (by name of complex and location as I didn't have the name of the MC), I discovered that the MC only had 11k funds readily available. Not a lot for some 60 apartments.

    There are quite a few websites that give some basic info on companies taken from the accounts submitted to the CRO (?) and just one of them showed the cash available. More detailed reports are available if you buy the report.

    What I found was sufficient to withdraw from the purchase.


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