Neighbours extension / overcrowding

on_my_oe

We live in a new estate of apartments and houses, all leasehold with a yearly management fee.

One of our neighbours is running a boarding house, offering rooms online sleeping four to a room for €200 pp/month,and has the living room as a fourth bedroom. He is catering to the youth traveller/ immigrant market and there seems to be about 14 people living in a three bedroom. It is very noisy, as people come in and out at all hours, slamming doors and generally talking loudly, which wakes us up at 2am. We have tried speaking to those living there, but they conveniently forget English. The owner/operator doesn't live there.

Now he has started constructing a single level extension in his small 'private' courtyard, which measures approximately 7m x 2m. It is clad in plywood and looks terrible and takes up the whole courtyard. We expect he is expanding his capacity, so more noisy neighbours.

I called the council but they didn't seem interested. Anything we can do?

zefer

Get straight onto the management company and make a complaint

MarkAnthony

Keep on to the council and also get on to the planning department. They might not be able to help as it doesn't sound like a permanent structure. If it is deemed to be a permanent extension it's not going to be an exempted development in a courtyard that small.

+1 On the management company also.

athtrasna

If your management company /agent were on the ball they should have spotted this earlier OP, I'm a director of our management company and we Google the development frequently, we got a nasty little shock when we found a massage business but it was nipped in the bud very quickly. Get on to the management agent first and then the directors of the management company if necessary. It sounds like it should be in breach of the development rules. It's also worth pursuing the fire safety issue

Mrs OBumble

Also, a well-chosen local councillor may be better placed to get the council interested in the breach of planning permission, or the environmental health issues.

Gumbo

complain to the following :

1. Management Company
2. Planning Enforcement Section
3. Building Control Section

wyndham

kceire wrote: »

complain to the following :

1. Management Company
2. Planning Enforcement Section
3. Building Control Section

Throw in the Fire Officer and Revenue Commissioners for good measure. Printed screenshots of what is being offered online would be a good idea.

Gumbo

wyndham wrote: »

Throw in the Fire Officer and Revenue Commissioners for good measure. Printed screenshots of what is being offered online would be a good idea.

Fire Officier comes under Building Control. Building Control is the applicatio of current Building Regulations under the Building Control Act, which also covers a Fire Safety Certificate and Disability Access Certificate.

Printed screen shots is a good idea though.

the_syco

on_my_oe wrote: »

Now he has started constructing a single level extension in his small 'private' courtyard, which measures approximately 7m x 2m.

Query the management company if the leasehold allows him to build anything in "his" courtyard.

Chris_5339762

Sounds like airbnb to me.

antoinolachtnai

The council needs to deal with this. The management company has responsibilities too, but the law on planning is what should drive this along. Quite likely the council will serve notice on the management company as well as the unit owner to sort the issue out.

As a first step, you need to read

http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/Planning/FileDownLoad,31564,en.pdf

It needs to be clear to the council the scale of what they are doing, not just the fact that they are renting a few beds out. Irish planning law and planners are more liberal than a lot of countries about someone renting a room out, but this is not the sort of thing that is permitted without planning. You really would benefit from evidence of their marketing activities for their operation if you could get them, and getting a statement from your own 'mystery shopper' of what the place is actually like inside might be useful too.

You and the neighbours may need to get legal or planning advice on this.

Lantus

Houses are not part of the common buildings so despite them being bound into the omc they will probably be freehold.

My strategy to deal with this would be planning, building control for safety and the right to run a business like this in an estate. You can do a lot of this anonymously. The hsa is worth a call and contact the fire officer in building control as well to be sure.

I'd also call revenue to let them know a business like s being run in this house and chech with the cro to see if they are registered. There may be some leverage the odce can give subject to the type of business.

Noise is the environmental section. You need to keep records of all noise over a sustained period to have a case. The alternative is to place a massive speaker against your wall.

The omc may have some leverage if the lease provides conditions re the operation of a business. Read it asap as they are the same for each building type.

SimonTheITGuy

Chris_5339762 wrote: »

Sounds like airbnb to me.

I don't think so, their offices are in Ringsend afaik.

the_syco

SimonTheITGuy wrote: »

I don't think so, their offices are in Ringsend afaik.

Huh? I think the he means that the setup sounds like airbnb, not that the building is the airbnb headquarters...