Management companies - update

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Good news on the management company / agent front:

Irish Times 28/02

"Gormley's circular to send local authorities into a spin
THE CAT is going to be truly put among the pigeons by Environment Minister John Gormley's circular to the local authorities which gives them a deadline of June this year to update their policies in relation to taking housing estates in charge.
The minister wants the local authorities to meet their obligations and start maintaining non-gated housing estates around the country which will come as good news to many residents.
The rash of new estates built in the boom saw many of the local authorities wash their hands of them by insisting in the planning conditions that a management company be set up to maintain them.
This has caused mayhem in many estates with some residents refusing to pay their service charge on the basis that they shouldn't have to pay money for the upkeep of the grounds if the estate up the road is being maintained by the council for free.
The result is that many management companies go into the red and the estates become shabby around the edges.
But according to the Irish Home Builders' Association director Hubert Fitzpatrick this doesn't necessarily mean that residents can stop paying their charges. "If a management company has been set up, then charges are legally due," he says.
The current situation is that residents can request that the council take the estate in charge and if planning permission has expired for more than seven years.
Fitzpatrick says there are still situations where some sort of management company arrangement is needed, particularly where there is extensive landscaping which the councils generally won't take on."

 

[AKA]

And more - http://www.environ.ie/en/DevelopmentandHousing/PlanningDevelopment/Planning/News/MainBody,16789,en.htm

"
Gormley Issues Comprehensive Planning Guidance Concerning the Taking in Charge of Residential Estates

26/02/08

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr. John Gormley today (26th February 2008) announced that his Department has issued new policy guidance to planning authorities in relation to the taking in charge of residential estates.
The guidance is being issued as a companion to the expanded and updated Residential Density Guidelines – Sustainable Residential Development in Urban Areas - which issued as a consultation draft on 10 February.
The guidance is based on the deliberations of a Working Group which included representatives of the Minister’s Department, local authorities, architects, planners, home builders and consumer interests, to consider the issue of the maintenance of infrastructure and facilities in the newer type of high-density residential estates and other issues relating to the taking in charge of residential developments. The main principles now set out in the overall framework for taking in charge are:

• A statement of the facilities that will be taken in charge and the maintenance services that will be provided must be set out and the issue of taking in charge must be addressed at the pre-planning stage with the approved design facilitating the taking in charge of core facilities;
• Developers will be required, through the development management process /permission, to complete residential developments to a standard that is in compliance with the planning permission granted;
• Planning authorities must take all necessary measures in this regard in particular through securing adequate bonds, inspection of construction and enforcement action when necessary;
• The procedures for taking in charge will begin promptly on foot of a request by the majority of the residents in the development or by the developer, as appropriate. Protocols, including time frames, must be set out by planning authorities to respond to requests for taking in charge;
• In general, planning authorities must not attach management companies as a condition of planning in respect of traditional housing estates;
• In relation to older estates, priority must continue to be placed on resolving those estates that have been left unfinished /not taken in charge for the longest period.

“I am now asking each planning authority to develop or update, as appropriate, its policy on taking in charge by the end of June 2008, on the basis of these principles, and wider housing and planning guidance, as set out in my Department’s circular letter” said the Minister.
The Minister said that the new policy guidance is clearly focused on proactively addressing the issue of taking in charge at the pre-planning stage. This approach coupled with the extensive powers already available to planning authorities to deal with non compliance will ensure that the legacy of unfinished estates is consigned to the past.
The implementation of the new policy in this area will require the commitment of additional resources by planning authorities, particularly in terms of pre-application consultations and inspection of construction.
As part of the overall review and update of the local government service indicators a new indicator in relation to taking in charge is also being introduced from 2008 onwards. This will provide benchmark data in 2009 for monitoring the taking in charge process, and in particular the priority being accorded by individual authorities to the taking in charge of unfinished or legacy estates. The information will allow the Department to review the ongoing work of planning authorities in this area.
The main elements of the new policy guidance on taking in charge will be incorporated in the new Sustainable Residential Development Guidelines, which will be issued as Ministerial Guidelines under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act later this year.
In conclusion the Minister said ”I believe that this guidance when implemented will make a valuable contribution to the creation of sustainable communities, where people want to live and work, now and in the future”.
ENDS

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