Construction company gone to NAMA - estate not finished

Apologies to mods if this is in the wrong forum.

I'm living in an almost finished housing estate and have learned that the construction company in question has gone into NAMA in recent weeks. Just wondering what the implications are as regards unfinished housing, including social and affordable housing which looks almost finished from the outside.
Also, as regards the maintenance of flower beds, cutting of grass etc - is this now the responsibility of the residents or will the relevant local authority take it over? The estate itself is very tidy and has been left in excellent condition given that there has been little or no activity here in the last 12 - 18 months.
Any advice appreciated.

do a bit of research, the www is great
there's plenty of people in similar situations, many having gone through or dealing with this at the moment.. from reading elsewhere on this start by:
forming a residents group (power in numbers etc) and get organised
then contact your council (always in writing) then chip in and seek legal advice

best of luck with it..

I am researching on the WWW I'm here aren't I?! Cheers for that. We have a residents group already so that's the first thing taken care of. Thanks again

Hi thebop,

Welcome to Askaboutmoney!

I think this kind of situation is still very much in the "finding its way forward" mode.
Could I respectfully suggest that you write putting your queries to

(i) Your local T.D.s
(ii) The Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan
(iii) Minister for Housing and Planning at the DOE, Willie Penrose
(iv) The Board of Nama, so see what they intend to do to/for/with your particular estate.

These people/body I mentioned have a degree of control over your situation and are the most likely to affect its future in the short to medium term.
Decisions are currently being taken as I understand it on what to do with part finished estates.

At this point I'd say they are looking for ideas, apart from the obvious one of giving "our" banks a kick in the backside to get them lending into "our" economy.
Here are some links you may find useful.

http://www.irisheconomy.ie/index.php/2011/04/12/nama-to-provide-finance/
http://namawinelake.wordpress.com/2...tes-shows-vast-decline-in-incomplete-estates/
http://namawinelake.wordpress.com/2011/10/15/fancy-a-nama-house-just-pick-an-empty-one-move-in-and-claim-squatter%E2%80%99s-rights-no-negative-equity-mortgage-required/

I'd suggest you regularly read Namawinelake for news and updates.
Perhaps if you find a better source of information you might considre sharing it with us on Askaboutmoney.

Hope this helps,


ONQ

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.

As much of a question as anything else - albeit that it might be one aspect for the OP to pursue.......
Were all developers obliged to provide a 'completion bond' to the co. council?....OR .....was this only stipulated in specific cases by the local planning office?

Where a completion bond has been provided, has anyone managed to get this money released in order to bring about completion of their estate? I've been trying to find out what the situation is in this regard in relation to my own estate. Queries sent to the council planning office over 6 months ago acknowledged but unanswered. Prompted them for a response once more last month - again query acknowledged but no answer to my questions.

Hi serotoninsid,

The phrase "like trying to get blood from a stone" springs to mind.
The Actual Bond (a money amount) or evidence of insurance in lieu of the Bond is lodged with and in favour of the Council.

It came about as a response to developers not finishing estates off to a good taking in charge standard and abandoning them.
It is a condition of planning and is such administered under planning law within the body politic of the Council.

It is difficult to get Councils to take estates in charge, sometimes delays of up to seven years post completion can occur.
It is also in my experience very difficult to get Councils to release the Bond when the estate is completed.

I'm talking about releasing the Bond back to the developer, once he's "completed" and so entitled to it.
Releasing the bond to a third party is not in the Council's remit so far as I am aware.

Alternatively you may seek to pressure the Council to USE the bond to complete.
I advise you to contact the people listed in the 4th post to this thread.


ONQ

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.

ONQ and serotoninsid thank you both so much for your very helpful advice.

I'm actually a member of our residents committee so I want to be as informed as possible. I don't know about a 'completion bond' for sure but I know that the developer was going to maintain the green areas for 5 years after completion and then the council would take over. They cut the grass up to a couple of months ago but stopped maintaining the flower beds about a year ago.

You're very welcome thebop.

Consider letting us know your eventual strategy and how you get on with it.


ONQ

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matters at hand.

Yeah will do ONQ. I know this is largely new territory but will sadly no doubt become more common in the current climate.

Thanks thebop,

The essence of AAM is that is provides a resource for people, so its important to draw on the experience of members to help contribute to the knowledge base


ONQ.

[broken link removed]

All advice on AAM is remote from the situation and cannot be relied upon as a defence or support - in and of itself - should legal action be taken.
Competent legal and building professionals should be asked to advise in Real Life with rights to inspect and issue reports on the matter at hand.

thebop said:

I'm actually a member of our residents committee so I want to be as informed as possible. I don't know about a 'completion bond' for sure but I know that the developer was going to maintain the green areas for 5 years after completion and then the council would take over. They cut the grass up to a couple of months ago but stopped maintaining the flower beds about a year ago.

Click to expand...

No worries thebop. Be sure to email your local co. co.'s planning office - and ask them what the status is re. a completion bond. Is there one - how much is it - can it be used to 'complete' the estate. I'd be very interested to see if you fare any better than me in - in the first instance - getting a proper answer out of them!

http://irelandafternama.wordpress.com/

OP this is a very informative blog by the Maynooth lads

Hi thebop

Don't know if this will be of any help but I thought I'd share my own experience. Our estate is also technically unfinished but to be fair to the developer, you wouldn't really know it from the appearance. The developer notified all residents they would no longer be looking after the green areas so we formed a resident's association and looked for subscriptions from all residents. The response was actually really good and enabled us to retain a landscaper.

The situation with the council taking the estate in charge is a complicated one and can be a very protracted process. Your best bet is to try and get in touch with what's left of the development company and build a relationship. If they contact the council regarding taking in charge the process will get going quicker than if the residents request it via plebiscite. Also, try and build a relationship with the council through your local councillors as they can be very helpful and exert some gentle pressure on the developer and council engineers. Other complications regarding taking in charge exist around the level of 'unfinishedness' and outstanding planning permissions.

Regarding the bond, once the developer has gone into NAMA things seem to get very complicated. If there are health and safety issues that require completion (public lighting, dangerous building site areas, unfinished footpaths, etc) you have more leverage to push for these to be sorted either by the council or the developers themselves. Expect everything to take place at a snails place and be very frustrating however.

Good luck. Let us know how you get on.

Thanks again for the replies guys. We already have a residents group in place (of which I'm a member) and we've arranged to meet our local TD at the weekend to get her viewpoint on what to do next. Will post an update when I can.