Apartment floor area - Need advice badly!

R

robt

Guest
I was wondering if someone could help me? PLEASE!

I am about to purchase a 2 bed apartment in Dublin. The brochure states that the apartmant area is 69 square meters, the small print reads that area is approximate.

I recently gained access to the apartment which is currently under construction. To my horror i realised that the floor area is actually around 63 square metres. It appears to me that no allowance was made for the internal insulated drylining when originally working out floor areas. Therefore the drylining has encroached on the floor area as originally stated. The floor areas i have calculated are accurate, I am an Architectural Technician who does this type of work all of the time.

The minimum size of a 2 bed apartment according to South Dublin coco development plan is 65 square metres.

I was wondering what i can do about the situation, or whether i should be given some sort of allowance?

I have paid my full deposit, and i need to get this apartment, but i just think it is grossly unfair to lose 6 square metres, and have an apartmant below the size in the development plan, considering the difficulty i have had to go through to actually buy it.

Any advice much appreciated, i am seriously worried.

Thank You.
 
Re: Apartmant floor area - Need advice badly!!!


I can understand your frustration but I think the "approximate" disclaimer might mean you have little redress.

I would imagine SD Co Co have a similar sort of disclaimer or at least will credit the source of their figure to the above mentioned brochure or other vaguely specified text.
 
Re: Apartment floor area - Need advice badly!!!

i would imagine the sizes in the development plan are a guide. If not the development may have been granted premission before the minimum size applied? Have you measured the balcony/external space which falls into the curtaligage?
 
Re: Apartment floor area - Need advice badly!!!

Hi there,

the same problem occured when we bought an apartment in the city centre. It was meant to be 63sqm but turned out actually being only 57sqm. But we still had to pay the same price for an apartment that was 10% smaller in size. We contacted our solicitors who started talking to the builders solicitor. We asked for a 10% reduction in price and got a 1%. We said not good enough. Asked for our solicitor to instruct the builders that we were pulling out of the agreement and got our full deposit back. Ultimately the builder thought he could get his price from someone else! Hope this is of benefit and good luck.
 
Re: Apartment floor area - Need advice badly!!!

Floor areas of buildings are usually measured from the outside of the inner leaf. So thefore if you have say 60 linear meters of inner leaf work and internal partitioning at 100mm thick then there is your 6sqm loss.
 
Re: Apartment floor area - Need advice badly!!!

GarBow said:
Floor areas of buildings are usually measured from the outside of the inner leaf. So thefore if you have say 60 linear meters of inner leaf work and internal partitioning at 100mm thick then there is your 6sqm loss.
Click to expand...

no they are not - they should be measured on NSA (Net Sales Area) which is the total internal floor area including walls, circulation space etc
 
Re: Apartment floor area - Need advice badly!!!

Thanks for replies.........
To those above..
Balcony floor areas are private open space & are not to be included.

Areas are NOT measured to the face of the inner leaf. It is the floor area.

Like i said i know what i am talking about with regard to the areas, i work in the business.

I need advice on how to argue my point and perhaps get some allowance.

Please keep this debate going, i'm sure everyone will know someone who is being screwed over just like this.

Developers are pricing way over the ods and making massive profits. The rest of us spend the rest of our lives trying to pay off the mortgage lining their pockets.

Thanks to everyone for their help.
 
Don't be suprised if this is the exact excuse the developer will come up with when you are arguing your case.

Ive just checked the areas on 2 different construction status drawings (to the outside of the inner leaf) and this is the floor area specified on the drawing.

robt, If you wish i can send you the acad file and you can check it for yourself.
 
Actually there was a case last year where a purchaser of a commercial property successfully sued an estate agent over a misdescription of the square footage even when there was a disclaimer in the brocure. The discrepancy was much larger but it might give your solicitor something to argue with. I will try to find it and post a link.
 
The case is Walsh v Jones Lang Lasalle and you can access it on www.bailli.org under Irish High Court cases or on www.courts.ie if you go to January 07. As I said the discrepancies were much bigger but it should give you some room for manouevre.
 
GarBow,
Thanks for reply. I dont doubt you, i know this goes on all the time. I have seen it happen myself many times. Thats why i was on the ball when checking out my own apartment.

But at the end of the day, its the face of the finished plasterboard that must be measured to.

This apartment:
1) Does not comply with Planning Application drawings.
2) Does not comply with SDCC development plan.
3) Is 6 square metres short of the area in the brochure.

Developers are ripping off the hard working people of our country.

Thanks to all for replies. Keep it going.....
I'm sure we all have friends or dfamily in similar situations.

Thank You.
 
Hi Robt,
If you log on to http://www.environ.ie (www.environ.ie) you should be able to find recently issued Guidelines from the Dept of Environment. They are called Sustainable Urban Housing: Design Standards for New Apartments and were published last month. THey set out that the recommended minimum overall floor area of a two-bed apartment should be 73 sq. m.
In addition, this document emphasises that measurement is of floor area, i.e. plaster finish to plaster finish on a wall.
Living in an apartment myself at the moment and, believe me, every sq. ft. helps! Never mind 6 sq. m.
Make sure you pursue this through whatever means necessary. It's not a miniscule discrepancy, it's a 10% differential and you shouldn't tolerate it as other posters have written.
Good luck.
 
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