Apartment Owners Network

The water metering saga continues with this article in today’s Independent. We contacted the Department of Environment when water metering was first mentioned but they weren’t able to tell us how it would work in apartments.

Plans to introduce water charges for every home in the country are set to descend into chaos. Major problems were forecast last night after an investigation found most businesses were not being forced to pay their bills.

[...]

The auditor has also found major problems in installing meters, with some councils saying they were unable to charge businesses that were based in terraces and office blocks. This is because of difficulties in getting access to the plumbing or where there is a single supply catering for all businesses in the block. The same problems will exist when installing meters catering for terraced houses and apartments.

A survey by the Society of Chartered Surveyors (SCS) – in conjunction with the Irish Property Facility Management Association (IPFMA) – reported that an increase in the non-payment of service charges in 2009 was recorded by around 90 per cent of property managers. Investors were the largest proportion of those withholding payment.

Around 44 per cent of the developments surveyed suffered from a situation where services had been decreased or withdrawn due to lack of funds. In the years to 2009, 62 per cent of respondents said 80-100 per cent of service charges were paid, yet this dropped to 25 per cent in 2009.

The shortfall in service charges is resulting in more occupiers/investors refusing to pay charges as they do not wish to continue paying for services that are not being delivered. Without funds, properties cannot be maintained.

You can read the rest of this article on the Irish Times website.

Hi all,

Our next meeting will be this Thursday, 13th May in the usual location, Training Room 1, 1st floor, Dublin City Council building on Wood Quay at 7pm. We don’t have any guest speakers this month, so we’ll be taking a few minutes to update you on our progress with the MUD bill and then discussing any issues anyone has at the moment.

Here’s a map and showing the location.

	Red Line – Four Courts
	From Aston Quay – 25, 25A, 26, 51D, 66, 66A From IFSC – Route 90 From St. Stephens Green – 92 From Docklands – 151 From Tara St Dart and Dame St – 37, 39, 39A, 39B and 39C
	On-street parking is located across the river, in front of the Four Courts building.