Residents Association Looking for money

camellia said:
It would be lovely if the councils did their jobs and used our tax to maintain our estates but until that happens residents have to organise it. .
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You see my point......why should the Council do anything with these estates when the Residents are doing the job so brilliantly with their own hard earned monies. As long as the Residents continue the upkeep the Council will not get involved!
 
I live in a housing estate in Meath and we are in a similiar situation.
We have a lot of grass areas within the development. The council will not maintain this and it falls back on residents to pay for the upkeep. It may not be fair or right that we have to do this, but this is the situation we are in because we bought a house here.

If we refuse to pay then the grass won't get cut, the shrub beds won't get looked after and the estate will be a complete mess. I really don't think it can be done on a voluntary basis with some people doing a bit of grass cutting and weeding here and there.

We are in the process of hopefully taking control of our own management company to look after the estate. It would great if the developer or the council paid for the maintainence but they are not going to do that. Even when the council take the estate in charge they won't pay for maintainence.

So here's the dilemma - some people in the estate have to become the "local busybodies" and ask (not demand!) for contributions from houses to maintain the area where we live or we end up living in a completely overgrown estate. What choice do we have? Either way we'll have to pay - if the government gives local authorities the money to maintain private housing estates then we will have to give them more money in taxes.

€200 is on the steep side but I know that our estate has had quotes for maintainence work that would work at between €100 and €200 per house per year. There's a big variation in quotes from landscaping companies.

Instead of immediately refusing to pay - why not get in touch with someone in the Residents Association and ask for a breakdown of the costs and to see the quotes they obtained for the maintainence work.
 
MaryBM said:
I firmly believe that we are paying enough tax without paying for the upkeep of estates (which Council are obliged to) ...
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I feel your information in this area may be incomplete.

Management Companies are a legal requirement in multiple-occupancy dwellings (apartment blocks etc.) or in private, gated communities in order to manage the insurance, maintenance, safety and security of exteriors and/or 'common areas' outside the boundaries of each of the individual residences. They have no role to play and no way of existing outside of these types of development. Management Companies usually employ Managing Agents to do the day-to-day work.

I have yet to hear of a Management Company being legally left in charge of a development which did not consist of multiple-occupancy dwellings or private, gated communities, and where subscriptions to such a Company were not detailed in the purchase contracts for the properties concerned.

Some residents' associations (maybe the one in OP's area) seem to have confused their function with that of a Managing Agent or Management Company, but in general a residents' association has no legal means of either collecting fees or dues or setting 'house rules' for an estate.

There is no doubt that certain councils around the country are falling behind in their 'taking in charge' duties, but the reason for that is not Management Companies (but could very well be Residents' Associations !).
 
Councils are only required to cut the grass something like twice a year. So saying leave it to the council will mean you will be living with a field like a hay field for your kids to play in. (I don't have kids but don't like the look of unkept greens).

I was on a res association previously for an estate of 80 houses, we asked people for €70 a year. About 80% used to pay, usually rented houses did not contribute (landlords told us F**k off I dont care is grass is never cut). We did not ask tenants as this was felt unfair as they could move anytime and would not gain by having estate looking nice for sale-ability.

Grass cutting was expensive (cut every 2 weeks during summer and 4 outside the heavy growing season). Insurance was another major expense.

We used to hold meetings twice a year but attendance was always poor. Our work on the committee was completely voluntary and we also contributed the €70 yearly charge.

OP ask for details of where the money is being spent, I'm sure they will have no issue telling you.
 
I live in a fairly well established estate, built in the 70s, doesn't have huge communal green areas as back then, they made the gardens bigger. Hence minimal grass cutting required and mostly done by the council

We pay €50pa into the RA, about 50 houses in the estate and most cntribute. We get an annual statement from them every year and most of the money gets spent on skips, (every year they'll order 2-3 for the estate to use, very handy for a clear out) and things like flower beds and making the estate look nice, a proportion of any surplus is retained annually for emergencies, eg replacing the estate sign after some muppet demolished it with a lorry, any other surplus goes to buy raffle prizes and they simply draw names.

Without knowing the estate, €200 sounds crazy and way OTT.
 

The estate I live in (368 houses) has neither multiple-occupancy dwellings nor is it a gated community, but does have a Management Company which owners are obliged to join and subscribe to annually. The fee goes to the upkeep of the green areas (there are several of various sizes) as the Co Council refuse to take the estate in hand. My Mgt Co Fee for 2009 is €127, it has risen from €92 in 2005.

In addition, there is a resident's association, which organises twice-yearly estate clean-ups (hiring a road sweeper), replaces vandalised trees in the estate and plants shrubs and flowers at the estate entrance. The res. association fee is €10, and has been for several years.
 
This is one of the reasons I'm thinking that dissolving the managment company would be the wrong path to take, even if the council did take in charge the estate. I used to think that taking in charge would be the answer to all our problems. However, without a high percentage of people on board it seems the management company would have to stay.

The council in Meath won't cut the grass; as far as I'm aware it is not under their remit, after writing to the Dept Local Government and Environment.

The estate looks well, better than any council managed estate. Even if the council did cut the grass occassionally, it wouldn't be up to the standard we have now. We'd have to pay someone to top up the cuts and maintenance. However it is important to have the estate taken in charge in relation to road and pipe maintainence etc.

The residents association could collect the money from all houses without having an expensive agent. But collecting the money is a thankless job, especially when people won't pay. The res assoc got 3 quotes on behalf of the management company, and our agent collects the fees and can handle the debtors too. Quotes will vary significantly - even with local contractors. It also really depends on the number of units, in smaller estates it could be manageable to do it yourself of if people are in agreement.

In other estates without management agents, residents agreed as a group to the process and there is over 80% compliance. The open areas in our estate would be too big to cut the grass ourselves. Takes the contractor a full day with 2 people to complete one cut with some maintenance.
 
A number of years ago the Residents Association in the estate where I live stopped
collecting money for grass cutting as they were fed up working so hard and getting so little support. The weeds and grass grew several feet high around the estate so at the next AGM I can tell you there was a very large attendance of residents irately demanding to know why the estate wasn't being maintained!
 
Yes, no one attends the management company agm. There was a large turnout at the residents association agm where the committee seemed to be mistaken for the management agent.

The residents were quite verbal - after that experience there is no way I would waste a minute of my time collecting grass cutting fees from 170 houses. Let the agents do the work or legislation should be standardised so that it become's the council mandate. I'd rather pay double the management fee not to have to deal with any of it.

I note that Fingal County Council are now charging residents for grass cutting services.
 

This is the way to go ...... let the grass and weeds grow for the summer , then hold an AGM so that anyone who is concerned and democratically elected can decide what to do !!!!

In our case there is no way the Council will look after the green areas, there are a number of households who refuse to contribute so I am fed up trying ... i just want to let it grow to force others to get involved in the decision-making and voluntary slave labour
 
Where I grew up there was a pretty good residents association and I think they asked for €80 -€100 a year for maintaining the estate. Pensioners where not asked to pay. But as well twice a year there was a clean up the estate day where everyone cut their hedges, grass and picked up litter that may be around the estate. Always thought it was a good idea and meant everyone got to know each other in the estate.
 
Hate to drag up an old thread (well not that old) but lets say Im having a few "issues" with the RA myself.
Theres this old fogey who is basically harrassing myself and my family for the RA fees for the year.Having recently been made redundant I have more important things to spend my money on.
He calls at least 3-4 times a week( oh btw Ive explained my situation to him which I believe was none of his business anyway.) and now hes started trying the guilt trip thing--snide comments about how my kids use the green area as much as the other kids in the are and that they responsible for cutting the green area--yet only last week I saw the council in cutting it,like the numerous times before that aswell--Im getting quite annoyed over this.
Besides what I can only call intimidation I dont see where the money is going--250 houses at 50-70 a pop is a lot of money.

Anyone got any advice on how to stop this or should I just get legal advice??
Thanks
 
Richie, when my ra called to coleect the money they were demanding I advised I simply could not afford it. They looked at me as if I were mad and put me in a very uncomofortable situation but they did not call again. Having spoke to my neighbours it appears this was the message they were getting as most doors. I would be very concerned over your RA harassing you like this.
 



Thanks for the reply Lilly.And youre right it has made us feel uncomfortable especially since this bloke lives 2 doors away so its kind of hard to avoid him.

It was just his attitude last night that annoyed me.

His exact words were "Sure your kids use the green area like the other kids whos parents have paid do" which annoyed me greatly.Im usually quite hot-headed and could have very well lost it with him but I bit my tounge and replied "I didnt know that I had to pay for the use of the green area when I moved in here--are you lot going to set up a little kiosk system and charge by the use?"

Its not as if I said I wasnt paying it full stop--I told him I`d give him the fees as soon as I got myself sorted out.But I mean 3-4 calls a week is really just harrassment.
 
I suspect, if he's annoying you like this, he's also irritating the other neighbours so I would just ignore him and not let him intimidate you. I think people like him have to learn to understand that many people's financial situations have changed drastically and what might have been meaness a couple of years ago is genuine lack of funds now.
 
You have explained your situation so thats it.
Some people just loose it when they become committee members.

If you can offer a reduced amount or a few bob every now and again, do so.

Unfortunately some people just will not pay and RAs can do nothing but accept it.
But people unable to pay is a fact of life.
 
Don't be surprised, in the current economic climate, if there is a thug or two running Residents' Associations who are out to line their own pockets.
 
If Residents Associations collect money they have to account for it and provide accounts and if requested receipts etc to residents of their developments.
I think it's ridiculous to say that people involved in a Residents Association who volunteer their free time should end up being accused of being a "thug who are out to line their own pockets".
 
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