Apartment Owners Network

Tomorrow is a critical day for the estimated half-million people living in apartment complexes, many of which have sprung up over the past 15 years. It is the date set by the Multi-Unit Developments Act (Mud), signed into law last January, for developers to finally hand over ownership of all the common areas of apartment complexes/ private housing estates and also the land on which the apartment buildings are built to owners.

From now on, no apartment in a new development may be sold unless the common areas have first been transferred to the owners’ management company (OMC).

You can read the rest of the article including a piece about Deirdre, Chair of the Apartment Owners Network, on the Irish Times website.

Today’s Sunday Times contains a story about the pitfalls with the Multi Unit Development Act:

The long awaited Multi-Unit Developments (Mud) Act finally passed into law earlier this year and further legislation is on the way, but trying to make the Mud stick has left many of Ireland’s estimated 500,000 apartment owners in a new quagmire, simply because the legislation did not take so many current situations into account.

The most important aspect of MUD is its enforcement of the transfer of ownership and control of apartment complexes from the developers to the owners themselves. Unfortunately, the legislation does not tell apartment owners what to do if developers leg it to Switzerland, go into receivership, can’t pay their outstanding debts, or won’t finish a development to the level demanded by law for a transfer to take place.

Apartment owners have a huge mountain to climb. First they need to gather in numbers large enough to be representative — this can prove difficult if only a handful of owners turn up for meetings in 300-unit strong schemes. Then they must appoint directors to shoulder the responsibilities that go with managing larger complexes.

The rest of the article goes on to list problems that some apartment owners have experienced (unrelated to MUD) and promote next weeks talk by Sonia McEntee that we mentioned previously on this website.

It does make one very important point though:

“Some residents are sitting behind their doors in the hope the problems will go away,” says McEntee. “They won’t. They don’t know their entitlements by law, they don’t know what is expected from the developer, and they don’t know how an apartment complex is supposed to be run.”

The article is available on the Sunday Times website (behind the paywall).

We didn’t organise this but it might be of interest to our members:

Sonia McEntee, a solicitor and member of the Law Society, will be holding seminars discussing the new Multi-Unit Development Act 2011 and the implications for apartment owners. These seminars are free of charge and open to the general public but reservation is necessary.

They are on:
Tuesday 13th September 2011 at 6pm in the Gresham Hotel, O’Connell Street, Dublin 1.
and
Tuesday 13th September 2011 at 7.30pm in the Gresham Hotel, O’Connell Street, Dublin 1.

Her website is here

I’ve uploaded the presentation that Tim gave at the meeting this week. You can download it here.

Our August meeting is rapidly approaching and this month we’ve arranged a guest speaker: Tim Carthy, partner in the audit firm Duignan Carthy O’Neill, who are auditors to quite a few management companies. His topics will include:

1. Management Companies and the role of the auditor
2. How a member of a management company can deal effectively with a receiver appointed to the developer company/ies.
3. How to go about reinstating your ” Struck Off ” management company.

If you have any questions that you would like posed to Tim please send me a mail before hand to allow Tim to prepare a response.

The meeting is this Thursday, 11st August at 7pm in Dublin City Council building on Wood Quay, Dublin 8. We’ll be in Training Room 2 on the first floor. If you have any trouble finding us, ask the friendly security guards on the ground floor.

Here’s a map and showing the location and here’s a list of ways to get there:

• Luas
  • Four Courts on the Red Line from Tallaght, Connolly and the Point (map)
• Dart & Suburban trains
  • Tara St – allow a 15 minute walk (map & directions)
  • Heuston – allow a 20 minute walk (map & directions).
• Dublin Bikes
  • Christchurch Place outside Jurys Hotel (map)
  • Upper Ormond Quay across the river, beside Grattan Bridge (map)
• Dublin Bus

  Bus routes have changed lately. Check out >this page to find the new bus routes.

• On-street parking
  • On-street parking is located across the river, in front of the Four Courts building.