Developers / Examinship / Management Agencies

Tubberclaire

I am currently a resident in a newish but unfinished estate.

Before the developer last showed any interest in the estate they activated the management agent to maintain the estate.

After months of chasing to get issues resolved we were recently told that the developer has gone into examinership.

However I have since found another article to say that a Dublin based solicitor has been appointed receivership for the developer.

What are the differences between examinership and receivership.
What does this mean for our estate. could it be sold off?

If the developer is gone into exmainership, or is insolvent and gone into receivership - could that render the contract with the management agent void? Keep in mind as well that the directors of our management company are the developers themselves

Your comments will be appreciated

Regards

Tubberclaire

Mr Magnolia

This is probably more suited to Accommodation & Property . Let me know if you want it moved it over there.

Tubberclaire

If you could move that for me to the appropriate forum it would be much appreciated.

Thanks Magnolia

Mr Magnolia

Moved from Meath.

Hope this forum's mods are happy to host it

Victor

Examinership gives the company interim court protection from its creditors. If it has now moved to receivership, then things probably aren't looking good.

antoinolachtnai

An examiner is a guy who tries to restructure the business, under the supervision of the High Court. You need to go to the High Court to get an examiner appointed.

A receiver is appointed by the bank, to recover the money the bank is owed, by selling assets that have a charge over them. This essentially means that the bank will get any money that is there.

As for the management company, it certainly won't make your contracts void. A lot depends on the specific circumstances. This could certainly be a good opportunity for residents to take control of the management company, if there is a strong residents' group.

It is in your interests to make sure the management company survives and is kept in good shape. If there are problems with the management company (such as it failing to file accounts, becomes insolvent, etc) that will make it very difficult to sell your property.

c-dog

Hi Tubberclaire,

I would love to know how you get on with this, I live in an unfinished estate built by the same builders, hearing the same rumours as you but last week I seen KPMG vans around (liquidators) and I spoke with a few men from the department of enviromental health who have been around the site, they said they were there to see what shape the site was in as the builders where gone bust.

Afterwards I spoke with my solicitor who still has a few contracts for the estate and she was none the wiser.

Nobody seems to know exactly what is happening with this crowd. We have snags that still need to be carried out on the house and we were promised they would in january this year.

cheers,
c-dog

Tubberclaire

Thanks Antoin. I think my main concern is the survival of the management company itself, for your reasons stated, and to protect the residents money that's in there already.

With the estate in it's current condition I don't think taking control of the estate ourselves is the best way forward...not at this moment in time anyway.

C-DOG - you say your estate is done by the same builders? Lavelle & McAlinden I presume??? What estate are you in -- PM me if you like

Regardless if they are the same or not we have tough times ahead. I'll let you know how we get on.

It seems to me in the big bad world, the little man always picks up the pieces!

Tubberclaire

just read up on KPMG - they offer restructuring services to underperforming companies too, not just liquidation.

fingers crossed when you saw KPMG they were just identifying what assets the builder has and how to get the best out of it.

antoinolachtnai

If it is a receivership, it is very unlikely that they are going to be restructuring anything.

As for taking over the management company - what real choice do you have? The liquidator of the rest of the group is under no obligation to you.

You really need to get a residents' group together and see what you can make of the situation.

Tubberclaire

It has been confirmed that developer Lavelle & McAlinden have gone into Receivership and KPMG have been appointed.

A lot of my part of the estate is still in a bundle Antoin and not finished to any standard - this will be a huge task to take on and convince residents to contribute - but the wheels are already in motion and there's a group of us getting together over the next few days to discuss these issues and where to go to next. So we'll see/

The main issues for now is of my own interest. As you mentioned in your first post we do not know what state the management company is in, and the developers solicitor told us to contact KPMG as they are now in control. So we do not know if we'll be able to sell our houses in future and we do not know if any monies in the company account paid into by the residents when we bought the houses is safe

My next aim now is to contact my solicitor, see if we can remove that clause so we will be able to sell our house in future with no difficulties....and to see where we stand by obtaining any monies in that company account to an account in control by the residents.

Pain in the ass

c-dog

Hey Tubberclaire,

We are in Rockview in Laois, my solicitor was unaware of there situation last week, she knew that they were in difficulty but couldnt confirm if it was examinership or recievership so that's could to know.

The residents in our estate got together about two weeks ago, the builders have a substantial with our council, I would assume its similar for you.

There is a local counciller who has helped in other estates and got the bond drawn down early so we have him involved to see what he can do. Our house was the last one build in the estate and we were the first of a new style so we are on our own surrounded by a building site, even the services at the side or our house are exposed because the land is lower than the house.

The management company isnt a big concern for us, getting the estate finished is and thats more to do with the council. We will just be looking at appointing a new management company and taking a hit on the funds already with the current one (the builders).

Will keep you updated anyway.

antoinolachtnai

Is this an estate which was intended to be eventually taken in charge by the County Council, or was it meant to be kept as a managed property?

It is not as simple as taking out the clause. The underlying matters of who will finish the estate and who will maintain it still need to be addressed.

Best thing is for you to group together to get the information and advice you need, as you are doing.

Tubberclaire

councils in Meath will not take on our estate in an unfinsihed state. I have have confirmed this as I explored this option recently with a county councillor.

I believe this is a problem for other "established" estates in Navan.

anyway, I am aware that the developer has an indemnity I think it is called with the council, which is basically an insurance policy to finish the estate to some standard (not build houses). I am not exactly sure what work will be done and how to go about it but the councillor is due to contact me this weekend as he was investigating the original planning permission and conditions etc which allow a management agent to manage our estate. He is now aware that L&M are in receivership so I will ask about the indemnity or substantial as you have mentioned.

From what I found C-DOG, if you do not want to look after the estate yourselves- DPS property management are a good bet, and cheapest / reliable crowd I have found, but it depends which services required will determine the cost. In saying that no work has bene implemented by them yet in our estate, but when DPS were presented to us I investigated into them and compared my findings to other management agents.

If you are giving the contract to any management agents make sure they accept the contract on your terms only, ie contract up for renewal every 12 months, and terminsation of contract with management agent can be implemented at any time. PM me your email address if you like and I will send you on some useful information.

Also, set up a residents association.....I have found that a whole new world opens up with a lot of help and offers from the council etc.

I'll post back with info I get from my solicitor and councillor in case it may be of any help to you and the residents of Rockview.

Best of luck

c-dog

Hi Antoin,

no it was never intended to be taken over by the council but as I mentioned before the bond between the builders and the council is to ensure the estate is finished (not to build houses).

as we were the last house to be build and we could see they had stopped before we moved in we had our solicitor ask a lot about this.

When they were still operating under normal circumstances, they could leave the sites untouched for 8 years before the council could draw down the bond and complete the site but now they are in recievership I believe there is things that can be done so the council can get that money sooner.

as for what happens to the site after that, I havent a clue.

would be nice to have some grass rather than muck though!!

Tubberclaire

you'll need to ask question before the bond is drawn down.

Lets say the council get the money, finish the roads, finish the green areas to some standard, and everything looks fine

Then, a few years from now the land is successfully sold to another developer and along come the big heavy machinary.

The roads and greens are destroyed in the process.....who is responsible to fix up the roads and greens then????

just so you know as well I looked into hiring a digger and rotavator myself and they are quite cheap if you think you can do the work yourself.

It's an option I'll present to the reseidents on my side of the estate

David M

i can confirm that a builder in the local area has been appointed to finish the relevant lavelle and mcalinden housing estate in warrenpoint