# Housing estate maintenance - grants from council



## agadele (12 Nov 2007)

Hello
Im not sure if I have posted this in the correct section, so apologies if it needs to be moved.
I live on a small estate in Limerick city, approximately 20 houses.it it is a cul de sac, and very private.
However there seems to be some sort of problem with general maintenance of the green, lighting and roads.The council dont seem to take responsibility for ir.I have rang them a few times as have neighbours. It is my husbands house, he bought it and I moved in when we got married. He says that there was some sort of thing with the developer? who hadnt handed over the estate to the council and he was to take care of maintenance etc.He doesnt really seem to know what the story is. Most of the house on the estate are rented, or recently bought, and no one really seems to know what the situation is re:maintenance.
I heard about some grant that councils give for grass cutting etc where they dont do it, and I was going to approach them about this, as the green hasnt been cut in over a year and it looks like a jungle.
We dont pay any property maintenance fees, as we are all semi-detached houses, not apartments.
The thing is I dont even have a clue what to ask the council about.Has anyone had any experiences of this type of sitution and can you advise?
Many thanks
Agnes


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## Happy Girl (13 Nov 2007)

Hi Agnes,
Our situation is that we are a 16year old housing estate still under the "ownership" of the builder. The builder has never cut the grass or maintained the area and his only contribution has been to pay his 90euro annual residents assoc fee as he still owns one of the houses in the estate and rents it out. However our local town council contributes 600 per year to assist us with the costs of grass cutting. Your first port of call is to find out whether your estate falls under the remit of the County Council or the local Town Council. Then just write a letter to them explaining the situation and asking if they can make some financial contribution to assist with the grass cutting. Have some kind of idea what the cost would be - get quotes for approx 6mths grasscutting to be done every two weeks from some local grass cutting business. This request then goes to the monthly local town council meeting and a decision made. Any other questions just e-mail me.


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## plus one75 (13 Nov 2007)

I also live in Limerick and our estate was taken over this year by the council..  before that the grass was never cut and the place was filthy.The council now are supposed to cut the grass and maintain the place (they put up a few trees!) - however, they don't keep up the maintainance and the amount of rubbish in the estate is gross. I have been on to them several times complaining about this and they have informed me that 'they will look into it'.. still nothing gets done, makes my blood boil!!!!


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## Happy Girl (13 Nov 2007)

plus one75 said:


> I also live in Limerick and our estate was taken over this year by the council.. before that the grass was never cut and the place was filthy.The council now are supposed to cut the grass and maintain the place (they put up a few trees!) - however, they don't keep up the maintainance and the amount of rubbish in the estate is gross. I have been on to them several times complaining about this and they have informed me that 'they will look into it'.. still nothing gets done, makes my blood boil!!!!


 
Just by way of information: I have recently been informed by 3 of our local councillors that when an estate is taken in charge by the Council that only roads, sewerage and lighting are then in their ownership. Ownership of the land still and always will remain in the ownership of the builder.


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## over2u (13 Nov 2007)

The situation regarding private estates is this. The builder lodges a bond with the local council, prior to commencing construction. The council will hold this bond, to be drawn down if builder doesn't comply with planning stipulations. The builder will then "hand over" the estate, when they deem the works complete. Until the estate is handed over the council will do nothing with it and it is between the residents and the builder to maintain common areas etc. In my experience the best way forward is to form a residents committee and put pressure on the builder to carry out maintenance works. In the meantime, draw up a list of problems and submit to the local counci/planners, they will examine(by planning compliance inspection) these issues when the builder applies to have bond returned. Let me know if you have any q's


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## Happy Girl (13 Nov 2007)

over2u said:


> Until the estate is handed over the council will do nothing with it and it is between the residents and the builder to maintain common areas etc.


 
Even after much lobbying from local councillors in our situation our estate has not been taken in charge even after a 16year existence. However the local town council still provides an amenity grant of 600euro per year towards grass cutting and maintenance which we ourselves as residents organise.


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## agadele (13 Nov 2007)

So on buying a house, are the details of the builder etc supplied as part of the sale agreement?Is that the only way you can find out who it is? Maybe the council is the information point for that?

I find it a bit confusing, as the house is bought freehold, no ground rent is paid, so does the builder own the land that the house is built on? Or maybe it just applies to the common areas?

PlusOne75 - if its the corporation, they certinaly are a pain for ignoring phone calls - definatly putting request in writing seems to be a necessity. 

Many thanks for all the replies. Im going give my local councillor a buzz and see how we get on from there as a first step.

Many thanks
Agnes


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## wheeler (7 Sep 2009)

Hi Agadele,

I know it has been a while since you posted this but you seem to have a grip on the ins and outs of handing over private estates to the counsel. Can you point me towards a web site or some other source of information on this?


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## Butter (7 Sep 2009)

County councils have been directed by the Dept of the Environment to have a "Taking-in-Charge" Policy document outlining their process for taking private estates in charge.  Check out your local authority web-site.  Mine (Meath) have theirs up on their web-site.


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