Legal Advice re Adverse Possession for Residents Association

H

Happy Girl

Registered User
Messages
793
Hi! Our estate was built about 16 years ago and has never been taken "in charge" by our local town council and is still under the "charge" of the developer. We have requested our Town Council to take us in charge on numerous occasions to no avail. It has never been a big issue before but things have changed. The Developer is now selling one of our small green areas to another person (not living in the estate) subject to planning permission being granted. The buyer is proposing to build a house in similar design to the rest of the estate. Planning has been lodged and further information requested which is not a good sign for us - we had hoped that it would be refused straight off. 14 objections lodged but we are not optimistic about the application being refused. Can this really happen. Seems to unfair to us given that we have maintained this green area ourselves for the past 16yrs and the only assistance the original developer gave us was his 90euro per year as residents assoc contribution. By the way the person buying the land is proposing to sell the house. He does not intend to live in it so it is only for speculative purposes that he is building.
 
Re: Residents Association

I think the title of your thread is misleading and you are talking about a management company and not a residents association etc.



Is this ConsumerConnect link of any use? There are several other threads on management company situations similar to this that might be worth checking out.
 
Re: Residents Association

I think it's more likely the OP is correct and that it is a residents association rather than a management company. And if that is the case it is likely that there is nothing you can do except follow the planning process/ appeals etc. In the unlikely event that it is a management company you might consult your solicitor to have a look at teh original contracts and title to the estate and see if there is anything contractual there but really I think its unlikely and given the passage of time...
 
Re: Residents Association

No clubman. It is a residents association. Basically seems to unfair that developer can just come back 16yrs later and sell green area in our estate which we have taken care of and maintained for past 16yrs.
 
Re: Residents Association

Sorry about that...

I presume that the RA does not have any legal entitlement to the land in question so (planning permissions allowing) the developer can do what they like with it as (presumably) the beneficial owner.
 
Re: Residents Association

ClubMan said:
Sorry about that...
I presume that the RA does not have any legal entitlement to the land in question so (planning permissions allowing) the developer can do what they like with it as (presumably) the beneficial owner.
Click to expand...

This is the thing we are unclear about. We have just found out about the term "adverse possession". Basically my understanding is that if we have maintained this area at our own cost and that our children have played on it for the past 16yrs that we have some sort of entitlement something similar to squatters rights in a house that has been occupied for a very long time unhindered by the owner. The site in question has not in any way been cordoned off or isolated by the owner (developer) for this 16yr duration. Any advice or any direction as to where to go to further investigate this would be very much appreciated. To go the legal route would be a very expensive option so we need to have our facts correct before going that way.
 
Actually to get a consultation with a solicitor for approximately an hour would cost a couple of hundred euro at the maximum. Divide that by the number of people involved and I'd imagine it's easily affordable.

Anyone with any limited knowledge of adverse possession can give you an opinion on this thread but really specific detailed targeted advice is what you need. You should arrange for a consultation, ensuring that the cost will be met by all involved.

For what it's worth, based on what you've said,I think you are very unlikely to be able to claim adverse possession. But I don't know all the facts.
 
Mybe i am missing something here but as it is a green area can you not send out your kids to play on it more while the planning is going on. Surely the council can't sell it if it is a green area for your site?
Start writing to your town councillers and TD's from the area perhaps?
 
nelly said:
Mybe i am missing something here but as it is a green area can you not send out your kids to play on it more while the planning is going on. Surely the council can't sell it if it is a green area for your site?
Start writing to your town councillers and TD's from the area perhaps?
Click to expand...

Nelly I am afraid it is not just as simple as that (unfortunately). It is currently one of the green areas in the estate that the smaller children can play on but developer still has ownership of the estate and therefore still owns the land. Have already written to local councillors who are totally backing us however they are totally separate from planners who have granted the planning permission and their voicing of their disagreement with planning has not held any weight. So therefore we are looking at the whole "adverse possession" as the next angle we can come from.
 
We had a similar situation in our estate a couple of years back. Seven years after finishing the estate he applied for permission to build four more at the edge of our green area. Residents Association and individuals objected. We got local papers etc involved.

Developer was refused permission. We have even since got council to take over estate.
 
The Pool Boy said:
We had a similar situation in our estate a couple of years back. Seven years after finishing the estate he applied for permission to build four more at the edge of our green area. Residents Association and individuals objected. We got local papers etc involved.

Developer was refused permission. We have even since got council to take over estate.
Click to expand...

Thanks Pool Boy. Planning has been granted this week so we have 4wks to take to An Bord Pleanala. Can you give me some of the reasons for objection that you used. Have all councillors on our side its just some strong reasons that will stand up in Bord Pleanala.

Have been on to Town Council who tell me even when they take our estate in charge they only take charge of roads/water/sewerage and that the developer basically "owns" the land forever.

Can anybody recommend a good solicitor who would be willing to talk to us and advise. Solicitors can be reluctant to take on Residents Associations.
 
We objected on a few grounds. Safety was one of them as some of the development would have been on a corner within the estate.

We also objected on the basis of reduced green area...I don't think it would have put the green area below the legal requirement as I believe we have more then they were required to provide....but it seemed to work for us.

I wasn't directly involved in the process, but I also seem to remember that security for children during construction was cited as another reason to object.
 
Have you looked at the original planning application (and permission) for the estate? It might be useful to see what was intended for that green area then.
 
TreeTiger said:
Have you looked at the original planning application (and permission) for the estate? It might be useful to see what was intended for that green area then.
Click to expand...

Just rang Council half hour ago to see where I would obtain original planning file to investigate this. Thank you so much for all contributions. They are very much appreciated. Two heads (or more) certainly are better than one. Any suggestions re Solicitor who might take us on.
 
Happy Girl said:
Just rang Council half hour ago to see where I would obtain original planning file to investigate this. Thank you so much for all contributions. They are very much appreciated. Two heads (or more) certainly are better than one. Any suggestions re Solicitor who might take us on.
Click to expand...

Just called into the council and my God it's like trying to draw teeth dealing with them . They cannot locate file so I am to come back next week (and clock is ticking with our 4wk timeframe for an appeal). Was really made to feel like I was putting them out big time. Any other suggestions or recommendations for a good solicitor who might deal with us is much appreciated.
 
Vanilla said:
Actually to get a consultation with a solicitor for approximately an hour would cost a couple of hundred euro at the maximum. Divide that by the number of people involved and I'd imagine it's easily affordable.
Click to expand...

Vanilla had meeting over weekend and complete sense of desolation. Each appeal to an Bord Pleanala will cost us 210euro. So add 14objectors @ 210euro each together with the solicitors fee and residents association will go bankrupt. Any engineers out there familiar with the planning process who can give me some guidelines on what case to put forward to an Bord Pleanala or are we wasting our time and money here? HAPPY GIRL NOT SO HAPPY AS MOMENT
 
Will investigate this today. What I do know is that only those who made an original objection to County Council re this application can make appeal to Bord Pleanala. But will look at possibility of group appeal and maybe just get everybody who objected originally to sign the appeal letter. Anybody else with any further advice?
 
i am new to askaboutmoney and this thread cries out ffor professional advice. are such persons usually slow to give free advice. it is sad to see people endeavouring to be of help when an informed person could put the issue to bed in one response.
 
dewdrop said:
i am new to askaboutmoney and this thread cries out ffor professional advice. are such persons usually slow to give free advice. it is sad to see people endeavouring to be of help when an informed person could put the issue to bed in one response.
Click to expand...
An informed person would be aware that they only have a fraction of the information needed to make an informed reply or provide informed advice.
(Technically, Vanilla has already provided the informed advice. Get a solicitor on the case who can review all the relevant information)

Without having access to the original planning application, original contracts etc. and having the time (and being paid for providing it) no one (expert or otherwise) can give the OP a truly informed reply.

While AAM is a superb forum for picking up general/generic advice on some legal matters, no public forum can be equipped to deal with a specific legal problem.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top