Resident Association Grass Cutting Fee’s??

murphym7

Just a question regarding resident association grass cutting fee’s and rented accommodation. We got a letter in the door last week from the residents committee saying they had the AGM and agreed that €70 was the fee due by each house for communal area grass cutting. An AGM that I wasn’t invited to by the way, although funnily enough they remembered me for the bill!

I know there is no obligation for any house to pay but my question is, as a tenant, what is your experience regarding paying the grass fees. Do you bother? Is it the landlords responsibility? Do these resident committee members generally assume it’s the landlord who pays? What’s your experience with this?

ShaShaBear

murphym7 wrote: »

Just a question regarding resident association grass cutting fee’s and rented accommodation. We got a letter in the door last week from the residents committee saying they had the AGM and agreed that €70 was the fee due by each house for communal area grass cutting. An AGM that I wasn’t invited to by the way, although funnily enough they remembered me for the bill!

I know there is no obligation for any house to pay but my question is, as a tenant, what is your experience regarding paying the grass fees. Do you bother? Is it the landlords responsibility? Do these resident committee members generally assume it’s the landlord who pays? What’s your experience with this?

I've lived in several residences where these letters came in. I paid the asking for 2 of them - they were the only two committees who said the charge would also cover cutting the grass in everyone's front garden if they wished. Mind you it was only €15 per household in an estate of roughly 70 houses each time.

My last house got a call from two members of the committee looking €50 to mow a communal hill in the centre of the estate. That's right - a hill. There were 120 houses in the estate, we refused to pay, and the money collected went to one of the committee members' husband, who did the hill in 20 minutes on his ride-on lawnmower :rolleyes:

Paulw

As a resident's association, no one has any obligation to pay. It is a totally voluntary contribution. They have no power to compel payment. They are not a management company.

So, who pays? Anyone that wants to? Landlord, tenant ... it doesn't matter. No one has to pay, and anyone that wants to can.

metroburgers

Paulw wrote: »

As a resident's association, no one has any obligation to pay. It is a totally voluntary contribution. They have no power to compel payment. They are not a management company.

So, who pays? Anyone that wants to? Landlord, tenant ... it doesn't matter. No one has to pay, and anyone that wants to can.

Neighbors will whisper, curtains will twitch...

Daithi_2014

I've questioned a €2000 fee for grass cutting in a development once. Turned out one of the members was cutting it with his mower once every 2 weeks during the summer and the money was going to him. Then it was revealed that another one of them was "the gardiner" and was pocketing another €2000 for half an hours work strimming every 2 weeks in the summer.
The total grass to be cut and strimmed would have taken me half an hour to do myself with a mower and strimmer.
Those werent the only charges these guys or their relatives were creaming off the management charge.
For a 1 bed apartment it was €1200 a year. My brother stood up at the AGM and read out what we found out. It was murder. The committee was replaced and the new charge for a 1 bed apartment was worked out by them as €675.
Always question any management charge higher than about €700 for a ine bed apartment in Dublin. Less if its elsewhere.
Most of the time when they are that high, the committee are not getting the best quotes for work.

Paulw

metroburgers wrote: »

Neighbors will whisper, curtains will twitch...

So? What's your point? I prefer money in my pocket and it wouldn't bother me what others think/say.

ABajaninCork

We get the green fees bill every quarter. Think it's about E40.

All we do is pay it, get a receipt from the association for the LL, and we knock it off the rent.

Paulw

Daithi_2014 wrote: »

Those werent the only charges these guys or their relatives were creaming off the management charge.
For a 1 bed apartment it was €1200 a year. My brother stood up at the AGM and read out what we found out. It was murder. The committee was replaced and the new charge for a 1 bed apartment was worked out by them as €675.
Always question any management charge higher than about €700 for a ine bed apartment in Dublin.

There is a massive difference between a resident's association and a management company.

With a resident's association, it's all voluntary. You have no obligation to pay.

With a management company, it's a legal body. You have a legally binding contract. You are obligated to pay. The onus is on the directors to get value for services and to account for the money.

Daithi_2014

Paulw wrote: »

There is a massive difference between a resident's association and a management company.

With a resident's association, it's all voluntary. You have no obligation to pay.

With a management company, it's a legal body. You have a legally binding contract. You are obligated to pay. The onus is on the directors to get value for services and to account for the money.

No difference when someone is asking you for €70 a house to cut the grass.
Thats just someone creaming it. Whether you pay it or not, its just dishonest of them.
Same goes for a management company who are charging too much for the services they are getting for you.

No Pants

I'd speak to the landlord about it. He was invited to the AGM; you were not.

Teyla Emmagan

Paulw wrote: »

So? What's your point? I prefer money in my pocket and it wouldn't bother me what others think/say.

And it wouldn't bother you either that other people have to contribute more to get the grass cut because you're too tight to contribute? Lovely community spirit there.

murphym7

I think what annoys me most about it, is the fact that I wasn’t invited to the AGM where they agreed this fee, but then expected to pay the bill they put in my door. They couldn’t find my house when invites to the AGM were flying about but made certain to find me when they wanted money from me.

We live in a cul de sac at the entrance of the estate, there are no green areas on my road and as we are at the entrance there are no green areas I drive past to get to my road either. All the green areas are well further in from my part of the estate, in fact I had to take a drive and find them!

When I first moved into the house in the autumn the committee were calling door to door looking for last year’s fees, I was literally in the house 3 days. I said of course I was not paying, but took the opportunity to have a little fun with the old bint.

Me: “What are the fees used for?”
Lady: “To cut the common green areas”
Me: Looking perplexed looking for these common green areas saying “You mean the grass outside my wall?”
Lady: “ Oh no, that would be your responsibility”
Me: “Oh Right, what else is it used for?”
Lady: “ Oh we use it for cutting hedges and tree’s too”
Me: Again looking perplexed looking for these hedges and tree’s saying “Oh, you mean the hedge and tree’s outside my wall?”
Lady: “ Oh no, that would be your responsibility”
Me: “Oh right, so what exactly would the residence committee cut or look after anywhere near my house or in fact anywhere that I can see myself?”
Lady: Flustered at this point saying “Nothing I suppose”.
Me: “Ok so, have a lovely evening, goodbye.”

Mrs OBumble

Offer to cut the grass once yourself during the summer, in lieu of payment.

I've never understood why the fit-and-healthy people in an estate don't just work out an informal way of getting it done, rather than messing around with money and gambling on the proportion that won't pay (must be high if they're asking for E70).

orchidsrpretty

I live in an estate of 100+ houses and the green fees are 5€ every month. Very reasonable as there is a lot of green areas and flowers around.

Meathlass

I'm a tenant in a small estate (mostly families) of about 40 houses. We were all invited to AGM and maintenance fees set at €50 for this year. They contract out the gardening work and the grass gets cut about once a week from April to September. They also maintain trees and about once a year the whole estate comes out to weed footpaths etc. The account is held in the local credit union and any resident can ask to see these accounts.

I and my fellow tenants chipped in to make up the €50 as we're very happy with all the work done but definitely wouldn't have even considered it unless accounts were available.

Should also mention that out of the 40 houses only about 25 pay each year.

Paulw

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

And it wouldn't bother you either that other people have to contribute more to get the grass cut because you're too tight to contribute? Lovely community spirit there.

What bothers me is resident's associations trying to intimidate people in to paying. Those people I have no time for, and don't care what they think of me.

As for my community spirit, I am a director of our management company, and in our estate (made of multiple developments, with a large common park), I was involved in establishing a resident's association. So I am very active in the community.

foggy_lad

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Offer to cut the grass once yourself during the summer, in lieu of payment.

I've never understood why the fit-and-healthy people in an estate don't just work out an informal way of getting it done, rather than messing around with money and gambling on the proportion that won't pay (must be high if they're asking for E70).

Also there is nothing like a bit of old fashioned shaming them into doing something as most people will chip in if and when they see their neighbours sweeping and cleaning and tidying up the neighbourhood. I lived in an estate years ago where a man with one arm and a small tractor cut the grass in all the green areas as well as doing other maintenance on the ditches and footpaths. he could handle a shovel better than most men.

When he was out doing a bit of work in the evenings the first to join him were lots of children who were quickly followed by their parents who got out sweeping their paths and cutting their grass etc Everyone had a great chat with neighbours and often a few large bottles were opened afterwards.

People are too busy now for that kind of thing and neighbourhoods are no longer the friendly places they once were because most people know very little about their neighbours, Back then very few women worked so they were dropping in to each other for coffee, meeting at the schools and shops etc Also more unfortunately "Don't the council have to do all that!" is the prevailing attitude.

Santa Cruz

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

And it wouldn't bother you either that other people have to contribute more to get the grass cut because you're too tight to contribute? Lovely community spirit there.

"lovely community spirit" Why can't people just mind their own business and I will mind mine. I don't want the local goody goody asking me for money

Santa Cruz

foggy_lad wrote: »

Also there is nothing like a bit of old fashioned shaming them into doing something as most people will chip in if and when they see their neighbours sweeping and cleaning and tidying up the neighbourhood. I lived in an estate years ago where a man with one arm and a small tractor cut the grass in all the green areas as well as doing other maintenance on the ditches and footpaths. he could handle a shovel better than most men.

When he was out doing a bit of work in the evenings the first to join him were lots of children who were quickly followed by their parents who got out sweeping their paths and cutting their grass etc Everyone had a great chat with neighbours and often a few large bottles were opened afterwards.

People are too busy now for that kind of thing and neighbourhoods are no longer the friendly places they once were because most people know very little about their neighbours, Back then very few women worked so they were dropping in to each other for coffee, meeting at the schools and shops etc Also more unfortunately "Don't the council have to do all that!" is the prevailing attitude.

WHY CAN'T SOMEONE ELSE DO IT?

No Pants

foggy_lad wrote: »

Also there is nothing like a bit of old fashioned shaming them into doing something as most people will chip in if and when they see their neighbours sweeping and cleaning and tidying up the neighbourhood.

We used to have a setup where I live, about once a month on a Saturday morning a small group would get together and clean the place up a bit. Nothing fancy, just pick up some of the litter and maybe clear out some weeds from the shared roads. There a a couple of families in the area that are filthy. Rubbish everywhere, that kind of thing. I was picking up some rubbish from outside their boundary while they all continued their conversation. No shame at all.