Anybody not paying Maintenance Fees?

ChickenBalls

I just want to get a feel of who isn't paying there maintenance fees in charlesland. I dont want to be the only one
They've started charging interest now as well....

gstonesmx5

it would be an idea to pay them unless you are having a problem with the managment company and thats between you and them but i would withold
payment aswell if i had a problem.

ChickenBalls

Yeah there has been a few things they haven't bothered to sort out alright.
Street Light for one was broken for the pasy year until recently but the thing that annoys me most is the fact that they haven't done anything about the people who have the satellites still on the front of there houses - ridiculous.

Thats the main reason I'm not paying.

cch

Honestly, not paying the management charge is counterproductive, if the expected money for the year based on the budget doesn't come in then services have to be cut back towards the end of year (grass not cut, additional waste removal not done etc) which makes the place look worse, makes other people think about not paying and the situation deteriorates rapidly, possibly requiring a catch up to be done the following year meaning the fees have to go up etc. You get the idea...
And it's not fair on everyone else living there.
If you have a particular issue then focus on getting that resolved but withholding fees due is not the way to do it.

LMC

If you plan on selling your house in the future, you WILL HAVE to pay all your back fees, so I heard anyway!

cch

LMC wrote:

If you plan on selling your house in the future, you WILL HAVE to pay all your back fees, so I heard anyway!

Yes, that's right.

LMC

LMC wrote:

If you plan on selling your house in the future, you WILL HAVE to pay all your back fees, so I heard anyway!

Yes that correct,as they will put a registered burden on it meaning what you owe them will have to be paid before any sale can go through.

hullaballoo

Legally speaking, they will register a charge against your assets which means that, until you have paid the debt, they can seek an injunction on the sale of the house or collect the money from the proceeds of the sale.

In layman's terms, the effect is that you'll have to pay the fees either way, and you'll have interest and legal fees to contend with as well.

Aside from those technical aspects, why should everyone else pay their fees, and you not, Keith123. If I were resident in Charlesland, I'd be going knocking on your door for a few words about it. The idea of co-habiting in a community like Charlesland is that there are certain burdens that arise out of the benefits of such a nice place. A small fee for upkeep is to be expected.

If upkeep isn't happening, then that's an issue you need to individually or collectively sort out. Damaging the goodwill between management and residents is not the way to go about it.

ChickenBalls

Thanks for all your comments - I see how people feel now about this so I'm going to pay the fees.

I thought there wasn't many people paying because the resident association would take over soon.

K.

scubasteve217

Hi,
We will be moving to Charlesland in the next month or so - we are coming from another privately managed Durkans estate in Dublin !!!!!! I was very involved with the resident's association in our estate and was part of a local group to abolish management companies in the SDCC area. Our group got legal advice from a barrister.....From a legal perspective you are obliged to pay your management fee as you signed up for it when you took ownership of the unit. Your only point of argument for not paying is if they have failed to provide a service to you, otherwise they can (and in our estate, generally did) pursue payment of your fee through the courts. Playing Devil's Advocate for a moment - everyone in the estate is a shareholder in the management company (which is managed on your behalf by a managing agent). If everyone decided not to pay their fees, then there would be no funds for the day-to-day running of the estate, which is not in everyones interest, as the local council don't provide services such as public liability insurance, street lighting, roads maintenance, grounds maintenance, for you etc. On the plus side, the barrister said that residents have the authority to sack managing agents if they are not deemed to be providing a good service and if a majority of residents (over 50% as far as i know) signed a petition, then the local authorities are obliged to take the estate in charge. Management companies are still necessary for apartment blocks and in many cases for landscaping (over and above grass cutting), however by employing them for a restricted number of duties, your management fee would be reduced significantly. There are groups in the SDCC and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown CC area working with this in conjunction with local politicians. Fingal CC have already abolished management companies as a condition for planning for new estates. I stil have a contact in SDCC and DLRCC if anyone is interested in starting a campaign!!!!!!

ChickenBalls

Thanks for the info scubasteve217 hope everthing goes well with the move - I've paid my maintenance fees now just so everybody knows!

One question, isn't it very difficult to get rid of a maintenace company who's involved with the developers namely Ballymore that have kept one house back for themselves during development. Does this cad come into play?
Maybe I'm wrong I just heard about this....

scubasteve217

Hi Keith123,
From what i remember, the barrister told us that residents have the right to get rid of managing agents, but i forget what the exact process is. As you say, if the developers/builders keep a number of units for themselves, then the residents technically have fewer votes. I can get get in touch with the barrister (he was at the meetings on behalf of the Labour Party) and get more info when we move in.