New estate: Is the developer obliged to clean exterior of houses

Manion

Hi,

I recently purchased a new property in a multi phase building development. The windows were all cleaner prior to handover the the property, but 3 months later they are filthy from the dirt of the ongoing building work. A friend of the family who works as an architect mentioned that as long as the builder is still on site, generating dirt that they are obliged to clean the exterior, specifically windows of the property.

Would anyone have any references or guidelines that would support this. I've contacted the builder and they are refusing to clean the windows.

Victor

Tell them to do it or you'll make a litter complaint to the council.

Check if there are specific conditions regarding cleaning attached to the planning permission. You should be able to find these on the council website.

Manion

There is a condition attached to the planning permission with regards having to keep adjacent public roads clean, but nothing about private property. The estate is a private development, so not sure about a litter complaint as the green areas and gardens are all privately managed.

Victor

"Littering" applies to private property also. Council can fine for anything visible from public place.

Gumbo

Civil issue. Council won't entertain the complaint. They will of course follow up on the public road dirt as that's a condition and enforceable by the Plan Enf section. Enviromental Health section governs the act here iirc.

tradesman

I'm not sure of the legalities but get on to the builder again as they should not be able to cause a problem like this without recourse. It is the very same as a farmer spreading manure in a field beside your property & the wind catches some of it & lands on your windows / walls. Who is to blame? the farmer of course. Tell them you will badmouth the site to prospective buyers etc I'm sure they will change their minds!

68 lost souls

A lot of people here getting very threatening very quickly. More likely to get a positive result if you don't go in all guns blazing

ILikeBoats

We're in a similar position. We knew the score when we moved in so we just clean our own windows. Cars also get filthy but willing to put up with it for the few months.

Gumbo

tradesman wrote: »

Tell them you will badmouth the site to prospective buyers etc I'm sure they will change their minds!

will make no difference in the current housing climate.