# Does this managment fee sound reasonable? 3bed duplex in Navan: €887



## Neil_Ireland (10 Apr 2008)

Hi all,

I'm going to view an apartment on Tuesday, the annual fee is €887, does this sound reasonable?

It's a 3 bed duplex apartment (1300sq ft) in Navan and the development has electric gates and no lifts.

Thanks,
Neil.


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## Lauren (10 Apr 2008)

*Re: Does this managment fee sound reasonable?*

How many other apartments/houses in the development? What are the grounds like? is there a lot of work required to maintain/upkeep the common areas?


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## bertie1 (10 Apr 2008)

*Re: Does this managment fee sound reasonable?*

Sounds very reasonable to me , I assume pl insurance , bins , lighting of common areas etc are in this maintenance on site etc


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## mercman (10 Apr 2008)

*Re: Does this managment fee sound reasonable?*

If its a new development the developer might be keeping costs to a minimum as all the apartments may not be sold yet. If it's not new, ask for a copy of the Management accounts prior to your placing of an offer.


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## shesells (11 Apr 2008)

*Re: Does this managment fee sound reasonable?*

Does it include your refuse service ie are bins provided? We have them but my sister lives in a similar development and pays a higher management fee than we do and doesn't get a bin service included.

If it does it's reasonable, provided there's an adequate sinking fund provision in the budget, if bins are not included then it's not great value and remember, these charges rarely, if ever, go down!

The electric gates would worry me from a fee point of view, these can be very expensive to maintain.


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## Neil_Ireland (11 Apr 2008)

*Re: Does this managment fee sound reasonable?*

Thanks for the replies, to answer some of your questions.

It's not a new development, it's a couple of years old.
I don't know if there is a refuse/bins service, I'll contact the management company again and ask.

Last years fee was around €600 but the management company are installing electric gates and the price is increasing to €887.

Thanks,
Neil.


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## highly (18 Apr 2008)

*Re: Does this managment fee sound reasonable?*

Hi

Once that includes refuse collection - which I'd imagine it does - it sounds reasonable.

Highly


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## Neil_Ireland (18 Apr 2008)

*Re: Does this managment fee sound reasonable?*

It does include bin charges.

Neil.


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## Angrygirl (30 Apr 2008)

*Re: Does this managment fee sound reasonable? 3bed duplex in Navan: €887*

my fee's in kildare for an apartment is €880...

Window's cleaned twice a year and bins sorted every week for that.. 
Plus the obv. insurance etc


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## Howitzer (30 Apr 2008)

Check the sink fund and the delinquincy rate. A low sink fund and a high rate of arrears from other owners could mean a doube or trippliing within a year or 2. 

If new verify that the fee WON'T be payable until the developer has completed all units and passed ownership on - until then the developer is liable for all common charges. Also check if the developer is holding onto units to rent and will also be paying the fees for those units.


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## Crescenter (1 May 2008)

*Re: Does this managment fee sound reasonable? 3bed duplex in Navan: €887*

Don't know how set in stone this is, but I was told that the management fee should be approx a months rent if you were renting your place.


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## shesells (1 May 2008)

*Re: Does this managment fee sound reasonable? 3bed duplex in Navan: €887*

I don't think there's any correlation between rent and mangement fees given the number of factors involved in calculating a management fee.

Ours probably would be but as someone who has some input into agreeing budgets and therefore fees in our development I am mindful that our fees will probably go up by 200 euro next year to allow for hire of a full time security person but the rental value will not increase by that amount. There will also probably be a fee increase after that when it comes to painting the exteriors of the blocks - again with no impact on rental value.


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## AKA (2 May 2008)

*Re: Does this managment fee sound reasonable? 3bed duplex in Navan: €887*

shesells - Do you have a sinking fund for exterior wall painting or do you limit input into sinking fund and raise funds as required for jobs.  

I've heard of the latter in some apartment blocks working well.

How much per unit to you put into the sinking fund?


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## shesells (2 May 2008)

We have a sinking fun but the issue is the costs quoted for the exterior painting is upwards of €60,000!! We don't have that in the sinking fund yet and would have to increase fees to raise it and then leave us wiped out. Most places I know of have levies for major development expenditure.


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## willalex (9 May 2008)

*Re: Does this managment fee sound reasonable? 3bed duplex in Navan: €887*

from experience that is the going rate for the area.


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## ClubMan (9 May 2008)

*Re: Does this managment fee sound reasonable?*



Neil_Ireland said:


> Last years fee was around €600 but the management company are installing electric gates and the price is increasing to €887.


Worth checking why this change is not being paid for or subsidised by the sinking fund. Maybe ask your solicitor to check out the management company's historical records for you or do this yourself just to see if you can check that it's run well.


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