Management company housing estate

[Housebuyerqs]

What are peoples experiences on new build housing estates that have a management company in place. We just put down a deposit on a new build house that has a fee of nearly €500 attached as 'maintance'. 'The management company is to ensure the development is landscaped and maintained to the highest standard' is the only info I have received.

I don't mind paying a fee towards upkeep of estate but with little green space and 100s of houses going in I'm shocked at the cost and would fear it would only creep up as the years go by. That fee and the LPT would leave quite a heafty bill each year.

There is also one block of apartments going in so would they have a separate company or will the house owners be contributing to their upkeep also.

 

[gipimann]

The fee might also include street lighting costs, public liability insurance for the green areas, communal bin charges (might not apply depending on the size of the estate) and a fund in case road repairs are needed in the future. I'm aware of the arrangements in one mixed development, the apartment owners pay more than house owners.

 

[Silvius]

Find out exactly what the management company's responsibilties are before buying. Is it only the landscaping or as gipimann says are they responsible for lighting, road maintenance, bins, etc. etc. You're right, the costs could really escalate, the directors of the management co. will decide anually what the service charge is and how it is to be spent. Yes you could find yourself contributing to the maintenance of the apartments but they should have their own service charges with entirely separate maintenance costs. They should, but sometimes they don't. Check that out too. Most residents associations charge €100 annually for grass cutting and maintenance so €500 is high and the difference with a management co. is that you're legally bound to pay it.

 

[_OkGo_]

Yes you need find out exactly what the management company are responsible for and what applies to your property type. We have a similar situation where it is a mixed development of houses (detached/semi-D), duplexes and apartments and there are 3 levels of fees reflecting the property type. Roughly it is €300/800/1400 for houses/duplexes/apartments.

When we purchased, the fee was €300 but has since reduced when the house owners raised it at the AGM's. It turned out that a lot of the fees did not apply to the houses. An example being the estate landscaping. We contribute to green spaces but not to maintaining shrubbery in front of duplexes/apts. The houses own and maintain the shrubbery in their own driveways. The duplexes don't own the car spaces so they don't maintain the shrubs, the management company does. Similarly, communal bins apply to apartments and duplexes, houses pay for their own bins. And regular maintenance such as power washing, painting, window cleaning are included in duplexes/apts while houses look after their own.

In fairness to the management company, they did clearly detail the breakdown of costs when it was raised at AGM and made it very easy to set the fees accordingly. Having said that, I would think that it could be harder for you to get this info when you are in the process of purchasing and dealing with solicitors. In my experience, the vendors solicitors tend not to overshare