Apartment Management Meltdown

I'm not sure about the rules re naming here, so will just say am renting in an apartment/duplex complex in a small town in Kildare. There have been issues since December with unpaid management fees, with a two week gap in refuse collection in January, lifts out of order for long periods, and other faults. The management company have informed the residents' assocation that due to continued non-payment of management fees by owners that they are pulling the plug on certain services (alarms, cleaning, maintenance seems to have disappeared) and that other services will pull out as they are unwilling to keep up payments given the outstanding fees.

I don't really want to move but it is really frustrating as the owner of the flat has paid his fees. Is there anything that can be done? Why aren't the defaulters penalised in some direct way?

Since you are a tenant, there's very little you can do yourself. The best you can do is put pressure on your landlord to take action.

Is it the managing agent or the actual management company that has pull the services? It's a surprising move if the MC has done because that would effect every owner, not just the debtors. Depending on what the lease and rules of the MC say, they can probably prosecute each debtor individually but this does take time and even a court ruling in the MC's favour doesn't mean the person will pay up.

purpeller said:

Since you are a tenant, there's very little you can do yourself. The best you can do is put pressure on your landlord to take action...

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OP can certainly report the landlord to the PRTB (landlord vs tenant dispute). The residents' association is unlikely to have any legal standing or teeth in relation to lack of services or maintenance of communal areas, the management company is the property owners company and the managing agent takes instruction from the management company, their employers.

If landlord is uncooperative, then PRTB is the only route to go.

The OP has stated that the owner of his property has paid his fees so why would the tenant bring this to the PTRB? The landlord has fulfilled his duties and I'm sure is annoyed that non-payers in the complex are causing these issues. By all means the tenant can ask his landlord to approach the management company directors and ask why everyone in the development is being penalised because of non-payers and insist that services are restored for the people who are paying. However the landlord as one member of the management company doesn't have a whole lot of power here.
Bad debtors should be persued by the management company of course. I just think it's unfair to immediately blame the landlord when in this case he has done nothing wrong.

Marg said:

The OP has stated that the owner of his property has paid his fees so why would the tenant bring this to the PTRB? ...

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Because OP is a tenant and bringing issues to the landlord's attention hasn't resolved them, therefore as a tenant s/he has no other legal recourse in disputes or matters relating to the property or the lease other than PRTB (maybe ask Threshold www.threshold.ie to intercede as advocate).

Marg said:

... The landlord has fulfilled his duties ...

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The landlord is failing OP in his duties under the terms of the lease.

Sounds like what happened in Ongar to me. Try posting on the Ongar board over on www.neighbours.ie for advice or stories as to how they sorted things out.

So Mathepac, what do you think the landlord can actually do? He can pay his fees and make representation to the management company directors and the management agent to get services reinstated to those properties whose fees have been paid. Do you have any other practical suggestions as to what he can do? How do you think the PTRB can help?