# Builders left estate unfinished- Straffan Wood Maynooth



## Gal1 (2 Apr 2007)

Hi 
I have a query in relation to the builders (Albany Homes) of our estate, Straffan Wood in Maynooth.
They have left the estate completely unfinished. The estate has not been tarmacadamed and the open green areas have just been left to grow weeds. There is piles of rubbish in some areas of the estate which has been left by the builders. They are not registered in the golden pages or the phone book. I got their registered address from the Companies Registration Office website. They have no phone no anywhere to be found. Builders are gone off site for the last couple of months and were never very helpful in the first palce(Dennis -such an arrogant foreman)
I wish to write to them and I am just wondering what the legal perspective on this would be. Any advice much appreciated.
G


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## auto320 (3 Apr 2007)

Try the tent in the Galway races in July!

I was in Maynooth last week and I noticed another issue that shocked me, regarding what developers are allowed to get away with in Ireland. there is a new estate on the north side of maynooth, on the road out towards Moyglare Manor. Some houses therre have been half finished for about a year, but there is still no footpath from the town to the estate. I noticed this because I saw a lot of people walking out from Maynooth (it was getting dark) along a busy road where they had to jump up on the bank to avoid being knocked down. Many of the houses seem to have been rented to foreign workers who do not have cars, and who have to walk along this dangerous road. It is amazing that a developer could be allowed to get away with this -- it obviously pays to go to the races!


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## CCOVICH (3 Apr 2007)

There are plans in place to have a footpath running to Moyglare Hall, but that isn't really of much assistance to the OP.

To the OP-you may want to contact John McGinley (Counciller) or Emmet Stagg (TD) who are quite proactive in addressing local issues in Maynooth.


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## Welfarite (3 Apr 2007)

Have you contacted the County Council?


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## auto320 (3 Apr 2007)

CCOVICH said:


> There are plans in place to have a footpath running to Moyglare Hall, but that isn't really of much assistance to the OP.



My point really was that maynooth seems to have a problem with enforcement where developers are concerned. The OP had a problem with a particular estate, and I noticed the Moyglare one, similar problem with non-enforcement by Coco. It amazes me that the Moyglare estate was even allowed to commence construction without at least a footpat linking it to the town. At best, the local authority were very lax in allowing this situation to develop. Having plans is all very well, but it seems crazy to allow an estate to be built when there is no safe way to walk to the town. Do the council officials think that everyone has a car? It's nuts!

There is a distinct phenomonon in many Irish counties that relates to towns other than the county town, i.e. Naas in the case of Kildare. Minor towns in a county are seen as a location to dump coco staff who are not wanted in the "head office", and such towns tend to get the dregs and the poor performers. Not saying that this is the case in maynooth, but it definitely happens elsewhere and does go some way to explaining poor perfomance in secondary towns in other counties.


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## CCOVICH (3 Apr 2007)

Straying into much wider issues _auto_-by all means you are free to discuss them, but in a separate thread please.

Any suggestions for the OP?


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## alfabeta (3 Apr 2007)

Firstly, may I say you have my deepest sympathy’s.  I have been investigating the issues in relation to our estate and have now instructed enforcement but this is after many months of investigations, searches and also reading the Planning Act.  (not recommended as bedtime reading but great for insomnia) 

My first advice is to write to the builders with your issues as you say you wish to do.  Resister this letter and give them at a timeframe for reply, say four weeks.  If you do not get a response, write again, requesting a reply to you original letter.

In the meantime, get a copy of the Planning Permission Schedule of Conditions and make sure what you have is the final permission.  It would also be advisable to get a copy of the Planning Map to back up your case.  Start to compile a report on the permission granted and the non compliant issues.  If you still have no joy with the builders directly, issues this report to the enforcement section of the Council who granted the permission requesting official enforcement.  Register this too.   This is not an overnight process so be patient.

Mine is with still with the enforcement section who seemingly are obliged to act on instructions within six weeks, this remains to be seen.  However, I am quite prepared to push this much further.  I intent to p*** them off enough that they will complete the development to get me off their backs.  During my investigation I came up with many other item which can cause them a lot more problems and I will use them if need be.   It’s amazing what you find when you start digging.  

I already have compiled a list of permissions being applied for by the builders in many councils of which I will be putting in objections to if our estate is not sorted.

Additionally, I know of one estate who were not getting any joy from the builders.  They found out where the builders were launching a new development, so they decided to picket this launch.  Their estate was soon finished off.  This is not a route that I was prepared to take as I feel that the route I have taken will prove fruitful.

Best of Luck.


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## dave28 (3 Apr 2007)

I always thought that a developer has to lodge a bond (x amount of euro based on the number of units being built) so that if the developer does a runner prior to completion of site works etc , the co. co. can complete / finance the completion ?
With this in mind, I would approach both the Co. Co. and my local TD's and put pressure on - ideally as an organised residents assoc.


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## Marion (3 Apr 2007)

The county council cannot force the builder/developer to take over the estate.  The builder/developer may request the estate to be taken over by the council. 

This is my understanding of the situation.

Marion


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## CCOVICH (3 Apr 2007)

Marion said:


> The county council cannot force the builder/developer to take over the estate.  The builder/developer may request the estate to be taken over by the council.




I don't think that is the issue here-the developer has not completed the estate before moving offsite.  They can be compelled to abide by any conditions laid down in the planning application by the local authority (this happened previously where I used to live where the plans called for gates but the developer was refusing to install same-the council served notice on the developer to provide gates and the developer complied).

However, some of the issues referred to by the OP are somewhat 'cosmetic' in nature, so I am not sure if they would be covered by planning regs?

Is there are leasehold agreement (what does it say about maintenance etc) and a management company?  Is there owner representation on same?  It doesn't sound like it?

Are there other owners who would be interested in getting involved?


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## auto320 (4 Apr 2007)

CCOVICH said:


> Straying into much wider issues _auto_-by all means you are free to discuss them, but in a separate thread please.
> 
> Any suggestions for the OP?


 
Apologies if I seemed to be giong off thread, my point was simply that Maynooth seems to suffer from non enforcement of planning conditions, and that this may be down to a particular lack of ability or even lack of resources within the coco at local level.

Other than that, if a developer appears to be walking away from the coco's legal requirements, it points to an arrogant operator who feels that he is above the law. If so, going down the legal route is probably a waste of time. If he is not bothered by the legal strength of a local authority, he won't care much about a few disgruntled householders who will in all likelyhood be afraid to push things to a level where large costs are involved. Best advice I saw on this thread was to picket showhouses owned by the developer and/or by the principals in the development company. This should get instant results. Take the war to their own backyard and put him under serious pressure. Remember that this guy has been paid for all the houses in the estate, and there is no profit for him in coming back to finish it. You didn't get what you paid for, so he is cheating you. Take the gloves off and stop being nice to this guy.


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## Sim Two (4 Apr 2007)

Other disgruntled residents are discussing this issue here 

[broken link removed]


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## auto320 (4 Apr 2007)

They are wasting their time -- writing letters etc is not going to get these guys back to finish the estate.

If they have a showhouse in Swords, get a picket on it over the Easter weekend. You should have a result on Tuesday.

Or they could just write some more letters.....


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## Olympian (5 Apr 2007)

There's an election coming up. If you're not on the electoral poll, get registered (if it's not too late).

Ring / mail / email every TD, councilor and election candidate.

Get all your neighbors to do the same.

Softly, softly doesn't work. The only thing that will get this moving is noise - from TDs, councilors or the council.


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