Fosterbrook - Booterstown

AnnaStezia

Apologies in advance if this topic has been done before but it is confusing me.

Viewed a very nice house yesterday in Fosterbrook, Booterstown. This is a speculative housing development of early 1990s vintage.

On reading the auctioneer's brochure later I noticed that there is a management company fee of around €350 a year.

I appreciate that new housing developments may need management companies as there are the usual issues of unfinished works and so on to be dealt with before a local authority will take a development "in charge".

Surely a development like this one would have been taken in charge by now by the local authority which is Dun Laoghaire Rathdown. I am familiar with the estate and have never noticed any unfinished aspects to it. So, why would they still have a need for a management company or is this now standard practice for any new housing [as distinct from apartments] developments ?

In the alternative, the management company seems to be a very expensive residents' association !

Are these arrangements likely to be legally binding on new owners as part of the title of the property whereby you must join like people who buy apartments ?

As far as I can tell those people in that estate seem to be paying a fee to get grass and some shrubs in common areas cut by contractors and I cannot see what else they get for their money. Does this entitle Dun Laoghaire Rathdown to escape responsibility for cutting grass, maintaining trees and so on ?.

What happens if there is a defective tree that injures someone ? Who cops it for that - the residents or DLRCC ?

Maybe I am living in the past ! The nearby estate I live in was finished around 1950 and gets maintained by DLRCC staff including tree cutting, gully clearance and so on.

Any thoughts ?

muffler

Moved to Accommodation & Property

godtabh

AnnaStezia wrote:

Apologies in advance if this topic has been done before but it is confusing me.

Viewed a very nice house yesterday in Fosterbrook, Booterstown. This is a speculative housing development of early 1990s vintage.

On reading the auctioneer's brochure later I noticed that there is a management company fee of around €350 a year.

I appreciate that new housing developments may need management companies as there are the usual issues of unfinished works and so on to be dealt with before a local authority will take a development "in charge".

Surely a development like this one would have been taken in charge by now by the local authority which is Dun Laoghaire Rathdown. I am familiar with the estate and have never noticed any unfinished aspects to it. So, why would they still have a need for a management company or is this now standard practice for any new housing [as distinct from apartments] developments ?

In the alternative, the management company seems to be a very expensive residents' association !

Are these arrangements likely to be legally binding on new owners as part of the title of the property whereby you must join like people who buy apartments ?

As far as I can tell those people in that estate seem to be paying a fee to get grass and some shrubs in common areas cut by contractors and I cannot see what else they get for their money. Does this entitle Dun Laoghaire Rathdown to escape responsibility for cutting grass, maintaining trees and so on ?.

What happens if there is a defective tree that injures someone ? Who cops it for that - the residents or DLRCC ?

Maybe I am living in the past ! The nearby estate I live in was finished around 1950 and gets maintained by DLRCC staff including tree cutting, gully clearance and so on.

Any thoughts ?

My estate has a mix of house/townhouse/apartments and the all pay the management fee. The cost depends on what type it is. County Councils (and it seems in particular DLRCC) dont take new estates in charge.

I think there is an order from the DOE against this now but its not enforced do to (amongst other things) the materials used in roads etc

Mellor

Its a private estate, simple as.
Not all estates are taken over by the council, there are new builds atm like this.
The mangement company are responsable for the whole estate, if someone is injuried due a defect they cop it.

godtabh

Mellor wrote:

The mangement company are responsable for the whole estate, if someone is injuried due a defect they cop it.

The designers can be responsible for many years after construction.

markpb

AnnaStezia wrote:

I appreciate that new housing developments may need management companies as there are the usual issues of unfinished works and so on to be dealt with before a local authority will take a development "in charge". Surely a development like this one would have been taken in charge by now by the local authority which is Dun Laoghaire Rathdown.

As far as I know, all private estates remain that way until the owners ask the county council to take it in charge. If they decide not to, or if the council denies the request, it remains a privately managed estate.

One reason for denying the request (probably not applicable to the one you're looking at it) is that there are apartments in the estate. Since the common building structure needs to be owned by someone, at least a partial managment company must remain even if the council decide to look after the landscaping.

What happens if there is a defective tree that injures someone ? Who cops it for that - the residents or DLRCC ?

Most (all?) management companies have public liability insurance against accidents like that.

How Strange

OP, unfortunately no-one here can give you a definitive answer. Contact the auctionner and ask them for more info on the management company and what services are included in the fee.

€350 for a house is average for landscaping, public liability insurance and other things such as litter picking, drain clearing.

But find out from the auctionner.

AnnaStezia

Thanks to everyone for the replies.

I certainly feel better educated and warier for next Saturday's viewing sessions !!

tHE vAGGABOND

On a small tangent..

What would happen if someone took the management company to court, for whatever reason, and 'they' won?

I assume that every member of the management company has to pay the costs equally?

markpb

As far as I know, every shareholder (that is, owner) in a management company has limited liability. The company would have to pay the costs and awards out of the funds of the company. If that wasn't sufficient, the company would be wound up. I'm not sure what happens after that.

How Strange

tHE vAGGABOND... On a small tangent..
What would happen if someone took the management company to court, for whatever reason, and 'they' won?
I assume that every member of the management company has to pay the costs equally?

Do you mean if the management company was negligent and someone injured themselves as a result? All management companies should have public liability insurance for cases of people injuring themselves in common areas (hallways, courtyards etc).

There have been cases where the management company have threatened one or more directors of the management company to court over mishandling of funds etc. I'm not sure if they would ever make it to court but there are definitely cases where directors have allegedly misappropriated funds and wouldn't hand over bank statements and cheque books to the auditors so accounts could be drawn up.

Most management companies would have a good insurance policy which would cover any claim that would be made against it so there are few cases where it would end in court

dexi

Hi Everyone.

I don't know if anybody still visits this thread but I'm in a process to buy a house in Fosterbrook. I have been looking around and found maintance fees around 600-700 Euro for nothing. I thought the 330Euro for a yeah is not too much, I'm noticing that they keep the estate well and clean. I don't think this is too much for having a nice estate around you and your house is not just standing on the street.

Anybody experience of this estate. How does it feel living there? Heard already great and awful reviews as well.

The_Conductor

Thread title updated to 'Fosterbrook - Booterstown'
Please only post comments relevant to this particular development on this thread.

Regards,

SMcCarrick

dexi

????? Fosterbrook--Booterstown....
My comment was about that and simply answered to the conversation about the annual management fees.

The_Conductor

dexi wrote: »

????? Fosterbrook--Booterstown....
My comment was about that and simply answered to the conversation about the annual management fees.

Yes- on a thread that is 4 years old, and was generally related to the Management Company and fees being charged there. Normally if someone randomly posts on a 4 year old thread- the post is automatically deleted, and the thread locked. It is highly unusual to allow a post on a 4 year old thread to stand- which is why I edited the thread title and requested any further posts to the thread be on-topic, to the narrow constraints, of only dealing with Fosterbrook in Booterstown.

By rights- you should have started a new thread.

Regards,

SMcCarrick

dexi

No problem. I was only looking for some opinions from people about this subject.
Would think if the thread is that old, maybe it shouldn't be here anymore.

Thank you anyway.

muffler

dexi wrote: »

Would think if the thread is that old, maybe it shouldn't be here anymore.

And if it wasn't what would you have done then?

dexi

Didn't want to argue. I was innocently looking form some advices. Have opened a new one, thanks for advice.

Good luck:)