Who completes roads in unfinished housing estate. New builder completing houses.

[v21075]

Apologies if this is in the wrong section but....

I have a question regarding the housing estate I live in.

Firstly some background information, the estate was not finished when we bought our home, there were 20 houses completed and the rest of the estate was closed off by fencing, long story short the builder then went bust, things lay dormant and the housing estate was placed on the ghost estate list.

Around February this year a new builder came in and bought up the remaining units and began building again, as the estate was unfinished the roads were not really in good shape they did have some tarmac on them but shores still protrude up above the surface and the road is being destroyed by the HGV’s that are carrying supplies down to the area in which the new houses are being built.

My question is does the new builder have to finish the roads properly throughout the estate before he finishes or can he simply put down a surface in the part he has built in and leave the rest in the state it’s in?

When we contacted the Council about this matter (and the fact the street lights all need new bulbs) they said it was down to the builder to do all these things as the estate was not handed over to them yet, since then I have heard conflicting information on who has to do what in the estate, if anyone can give me some advice as to what the builder does and does not have to do before he finishes his work in the estate it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[One]

This isn't an easy situation. I have been through it myself.

The first step I would take is go and talk to the current builder and ask him what his plans are.

The second step is to check the planning permission records and see what bond the original builder put in place with the council. A bond is a sum of money that the council will have required the builder to pay over for use in case the builder doesn't finish the estate. It may have been of the order of 30,000 euro. (There should be a receipt for this in the counil offices/on the planning permission file which you are perfectly entitled to see. In fact if you read through your planning permission for your own house you may also see a note about it there). Then calculate is there enough money in the bond to finish the outstanding work, and what steps would the council require before they release that bond. They may require a liquidator to be appointed to the bankrupt company, and may need a letter in writing from that liquidator stating that the bond can be released.

Good luck.