Can Mgt Co rule that children are not allowed play in gated apartment complex.


Who mentioned skateboarding?
 
Just see this has sparked peoples imagination. First of all "the management company" is the owners....so looking to put up signage, speed ramps etc all comes at the cost of the owners living in the developemet, try getting agreement on that!

Secondly this is one of the biggest problems with living in a communal developement. People have different needs, views etc depending on what stage they are at in life. I work in this area and this is one of the most frustrating problems that arise. Just to give you a flavour of some of the calls that we recieve

1. An owner rings in regarding the tenants living in the apartment above her. They have a new born infant and they want the management company to send them a letter about noise disturbance

2. An owner in another developement rang us at approx 2.30 in the afternoon complaining about children playing in the common area outside her house

3. An owner rang us recently about an ice cream van that calls to the developement (the roads in and around the developement are owned by the council) and wants us to stop the ice cream van coming into the developement.

These issues are a minefield.

On the issue of kids playing outside.

First issue. You will have someone speeding at 30 mph through the developement, might not be every day but some idiot will regardless of all the signage in the world and as the roads are generally private property they cant be taken to court for speeding!

Second Issue. You will have irresponsible parents, forget about putting up signs saying parental supervision at all times, it simply doesnt work, Kids are going to go outside and run around.

Third Issue. People want different things, parents want somewhere for their kids to go and play thats close by...ie the common area. Other owners want peace and quiet and dont want kids going around damaging the common area....There is basicly no solution to this one. It would be impossible to stop the children from playing in the common areas and secondly they have a right to be their as it is a public area!!
 
Why would anyone in their right mind want to live in complexes with management companies? Don't people put personal freedoms high on their priority list anymore?
 
sustanon said:
Why would anyone in their right mind want to live in complexes with management companies? Don't people put personal freedoms high on their priority list anymore?
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Sometimes its the only place people could afford in their area of choice.
I live in an apartment so there has to be a management company.
 

First Issue: I can see how that could be annoying, but its a risk you take when you buy an apartment. A lot of that is due to very poor regulations re sound proofing which really should be addressed.

Second Issue: There is a huge green about ten yards from my apartment yet gangs of kids will congregate right underneath my sitting room, shouting and roaring and kicking footballs into the flower beds. I find that annoying, but have not ever made a complaint to the management company. Depending on the circumstances, however, I wouldn't necessarily judge someone for complaining. The kids could be causing damage, or climbing up on boundary walls, or making an unreasonable level of noise or some such, so its hard to judge in isolation.

Third issue: I can't see the problem there unless the ice cream van was coming around very early or very late with jingly music playing.
 
liaconn said:
The kids could be causing damage, or climbing up on boundary walls or some such, so its hard to judge in isolation.
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In a neighbouring development kids caused €15,000 worth of damage to the gardens within 3 months of the development being populated. If I was an owner in that cluster, I would NOT have been happy with having to subsidise this. Not sure what they did in the end, I know that almost all of that cluster is rented so the tenants didn't care what damage their kids did to the gardens. Must look into it again.
 

Issue 1: The person making the complaint is an idiot.

Issue 2: The children should not be allowed to play in the common areas.

Issue 3: The person making the complaint is an idiot.
 
liaconn said:
It was an example of how it would be unfair to change certain rules simply to make a complex family friendly.
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Skateboarding is hardly a family friendly activity? It is also banned in many public parks, for good reason.
 
Sign in downtown square of a small Kansas town: 'No ball playing. No pets. No bicycle riding. No loitering. Remember, this is your park!'
 
Why shouldn't the children be allowed to play in common areas? It is their home as much as it is those complaining, the families who live there have a right to a family life, and children have the right to play.

Rules and common sense go a long way in these matters. In our development we have rules about the times children are allowed in common areas (not too early and not too late, later on Sundays etc), they must be supervised and any damage is recoverable from the parents of the children.

Compromise is the name of the game.
 

Of course they have a right to play. But it's not black and white. If children are playing in common areas where they're damaging property, or running out in front of cars, other residents have a right to complain. Or if kids are ignoring the playground, park or green provided for them and prefer to hang around in front of someone's house or apartment in big noisy gangs then you can understand why a resident might find that irritating.
 


The biggest point I was trying to make is it is IMPOSSIBLE to regulate where kids play / congregate. Sure you can put up signs but I can tell you now they will not work. Another thing people suggest is somehow to fine the parents, first of all its not legal, secondly how do you prove that someones child was in a certain place at a certain time?? The say so of neighbours is not sufficient.

On all these issues, my point is that in issue number 1 & issue number 3, the owners ring us about these issues about 2-3 times a week, often threaten legal action against the management company and throw out the usual lines "what am i paying my management fee for" etc!! People need to speak with their neighbours!!!!!!!
 

I know. That's why I'd never complain to the management company about kids hanging around outside my apartment unless they were actually doing damage or trying to gain access to places they'd no right to be. I am just saying that there are circumstances where it might be appropriate to complain. I once had to ask the management company if a car park at the back of my apartment, which is not used at night time, could be made inaccessible by a locked gate or some such because kids were using it to climb up a high wall and gain access to the roof right outside my kitchen/diner. It was extremely dangerous for them and a big security risk for me. So in a case like that it would be appropriate to ask the management co to take some responsibility and action.
 
So a child playing a game of chess with their friend on a table in a public area is somehow in breach of the rules ask them to "define playing" and tell them to take a hike. Tell them she was not playing and ask them to prove otherwise. Make a similar complaint when you see an older person out walking or doing stretches. Also probably discrimination to say an older person can play and a child can not. God this brings up some great ideas
obviously if your child is playing football against the wall it might be frowned on but i get from your post you are pretty level headed on these things
 
Luigi, how did you get on? Did you make any progress with this?
 
Apologies if I have completely missed the point, but there has been a lot of talk about taking measures in apartment blocks and managed estates to avoid accidents and therefore possible legal action.

I understand the desire to decrease risk to property and children, but is the legal threat not covered by public liability insurance?
 
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