Call for apartment management code

A code of practice governing the management of apartment complexes is a key feature of a Private Member's Bill introduced by Fine Gael.

Management fees would also be set for the first three years of a new complex at a level which ensured managing agents could meet the established minimum standards, according to the Bill.

Introducing the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Bill 2006, Fine Gael's environment spokesman Fergus O'Dowd claimed that legislation was long overdue.

He said apartment living had become a way of life for Irish people in recent years.

"As the Celtic Tiger roared into life, and demographic changes put pressure on the existing housing stock, high-density apartment blocks allowed for cheaper, high-quality housing that allows many young people on to the property ladder."

He said the 2002 census showed that 110,458 households - almost 9 per cent of the total - lived in apartments. "This translates as 210,056 people, highlighting the fact that it is often single people and couples without children who reside in this type of housing.

"Since then evidence suggests this trend is continuing. In the three years from 2002 to 2004, over 42,500 flats and apartments were completed, a fifth of all new housing."

Mr O'Dowd said anecdotal evidence suggested that there were serious problems regarding apartment complexes throughout the State, and many residents felt powerless to address them.

"These problems related primarily to common areas and the failure of builders and managing agents to maintain them while simultaneously charging very high management fees that increase year on year, often with little or no provision for a sinking fund that is necessary to cover the very high costs that occur every few years when major refurbishment is needed."

Those fees, said Mr O'Dowd, could often be higher than two months' entire mortgage payments, and very often residents were at a total loss as to what they were paying for. Non-payment was not an option because such a scenario would lead to a debt being placed on the property that would have to be cleared before a property was sold.

Mr O'Dowd said urban TDs and councillors had no shortage of horror stories regarding apartment blocks.

"Unlandscaped gardens, unpainted walls, broken lifts, crumbling brickwork, sporadic refuse collection, and broken fixtures and fittings are all becoming very common."