Management Company Questions

We live in a development containing 4 units which was completed in 2006. Three of these are residential and one is commercial. The developer owns the commercial unit and leases it to a restaurant. This unit has its own entrance and does not use common areas of the residential units

The developer set up the management company but passed ownership over to the owners of the three residential units in 2007 at an AGM. We run the management company ourselves and rotates the role of management company agent amongst ourselves on a three year basis.

Our questions are as follows:
Should the developer be part of the existing management company or does the fact that the unit he owns is commercial exclude him?

The developer, as far as we are aware, never vested control of the common areas over to the management company. We do not possess a copy of the deeds. Should this have happened? Should it happen now as a result of the MUD Act 2011?

The duck of the restaurant's extractor fan runs up the common area of the residential units. Does this mean that we the management company own this? If not, should the developer be part of the management company as a result?

We would appreciate some advice with respect to the above as it is causing a lot of stress to all three owners of residential units.

is the restaurant on the ground floor and the flats directly above as it sounds? If yes then it would be highly unusual if the commercial unitwas not part of the OMC. (owners managment company.)

Multi developments that include commerical and residential are quite common.

When you bought the property the solicitor should of outlined the extent of the development, number of properties and common areas.

the members register which you should have (although its pretty small) should have four names on it.

It sounds like the developer is trying to get out of paying his chunk of the service charge. damm there good at that....

YES the title deeds of the common areas should of been handed over to the name of the OMC and also any preferencial advantage. This must of been done by Sept 2011.

What does your buildings insurance cover? just the resi or all 4 units?

Have a look at the planning permission granted to the developer when permission was granted. It may say that a condition of planning was the transfer of the common areas and the requirement of each new owner to be a member. Also, check your purchase contract.

lantus said:

is the restaurant on the ground floor and the flats directly above as it sounds? If yes then it would be highly unusual if the commercial unitwas not part of the OMC. (owners managment company.)

Multi developments that include commerical and residential are quite common.

When you bought the property the solicitor should of outlined the extent of the development, number of properties and common areas.

the members register which you should have (although its pretty small) should have four names on it.

It sounds like the developer is trying to get out of paying his chunk of the service charge. damm there good at that....

YES the title deeds of the common areas should of been handed over to the name of the OMC and also any preferencial advantage. This must of been done by Sept 2011.

What does your buildings insurance cover? just the resi or all 4 units?

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Thanks for the reply.

Yes, all three residential units are above the restaurant.

The block policy covers all four units with the commercial unit paying a greater slice of premium.

We never received a share certificate nor was there a register of members. On our returns only the current director and secretary (owners of two of the residential units) are showing up as registered members.

What would we have to do in order to address this?

We intend to seek legal advise in the immediate term with a view to getting our affairs with respect to management company in order and on a sound legal footing going forward.

rocksider said:

Have a look at the planning permission granted to the developer when permission was granted. It may say that a condition of planning was the transfer of the common areas and the requirement of each new owner to be a member. Also, check your purchase contract.

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We have checked the planning permission and there was no mention of an owners management company or conditions relating to same.

paddybarry said:

We have checked the planning permission and there was no mention of an owners management company or conditions relating to same.

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OMC details in the planing conditions are not required as far as I understand. They form part of the legal lease contract documents you sign when you buy the house.

You obviously have an OMC because it is on the cro site and you have the articles of association.

If block insurance is being paid for all 4 units then I would be very confident all 4 units are part of the omc.

lantus said:

OMC details in the planing conditions are not required as far as I understand. They form part of the legal lease contract documents you sign when you buy the house.

You obviously have an OMC because it is on the cro site and you have the articles of association.

If block insurance is being paid for all 4 units then I would be very confident all 4 units are part of the omc.

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Thanks for the reply, much appreciated.

We have requested a copy of our deeds from our mortgage provider, which will hopefully shed some more light.
Could our share certificate be included here?

paddybarry said:

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated.

We have requested a copy of our deeds from our mortgage provider, which will hopefully shed some more light.
Could our share certificate be included here?

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Share certificates are typically issued by the OMC. They are essentially a bit of paper saying linking the property owner and address to a share status. As directors you can issue your own share certificates.