Hi All,
Starting a new thread for River Walk, one of the new developments in Ballymore Eustace, Kildare.
Has anyone else here bought in this development?
Good to stay connected.
Thanks.
I’ve set up a residents whatsapp group so we can keep in touch. If anyone wants to be added, just send me a DM with your number.
Thank you for clarifying the breakdown of the services charges. That seems fair when you consider everything covered.
Yes I'm open to either group suggestion also. Thanks.
@MaximilienMK my wife and I set up a Facebook page about the same time as I started this thread but there's been no action on it yet. Happy to share that or move to Whatsapp if someone wants to set up a group? Good to keep communication going at this stage when there's lot of updates and change.
@ultracrepidarian From an aesthetic point of view, I hope they do build the creche. I remember seeing a render of it somewhere and it seemed to be built entirely of stone so the building itself looked really nice.
@Blackbird2022 I have a copy of the initial service charge budget and it seems fine. It mainly covers the cost of bin collection, ground maintenance, managing agent fees, electricity, insurances, repairs etc. From experience, management fees can range from a couple hundred to a couple thousand so I'd say this is reasonable enough. It also means we're less beholden to the council to get things done and gives us a little more say in how the estate looks and functions. When our solicitor was reviewing title, they mentioned to us that it was clear that the intent was to make the estate somewhat high-end which I suppose can only be good for us as owners but also for property value?
Didn't think the A-rating of a house would be dependent on its orientation. Let us know how you get on with the solicitor - I'd be interested to know how that pans out.
This might be a little too soon, but should we create a resident Whatsapp group or similar?
Good luck with it, I grew up not far from there and have lots of happy memories from Ballymore in my youth!
@ultracrepidarian unfortunately I don't think so. We were just told that was the rating and depending on the orientation of the houses - they are A2 or A3. The development is advertised on daft.ie as A2 still.
@tnegun I asked my solicitor to follow up on it so they will hopefully let me know today. I know I was told at the viewing that the houses would be A2.
Surely the onus is on the developer to get it to A2? Your solicitor should also refuse to accept it and the bank could have an issue too as the house isn't technically compliant.
Our solicitor said the fees were on the pricier side but because they include bin collection they were reasonable. The fees also include landscaping and maintenance of the development.
Interesting, it must be to do with the large glazed areas at the back of the house. I wonder if you have any recourse for them not reaching A2 on your house?
Hey @lifewithabigspoon no problem, so the front of our house will be south-facing.
If you dont mind me asking @Blackbird2022 what is your house orientation. Ours will be East-facing
Okay, so I just got confirmation that our property is A3 rated because of its orientation.
Do you know exactly what is included in the OMC fees? I never got a breakdown.
Did people find these expensive? We are first time buyers so unsure of how common it is or costly it is? But some people I mentioned it to seemed surprised at the cost.
The estate agent said similar to us, that the creche and gym are unlikely and are subject to whether they think the area needs them. They said the location of the gym is likely to be converted to another house. Not heard anything about the Design Centre, but I think it's a mini-town hall type building, so residents can use it for different things like OMC meetings, book clubs, bake sales, etc. Not sure how likely it is to be built though, especially considering there was no mention of it in the OMC fees for upkeep.
@MaximilienMK i got similar notification. It’s great that they will allow us to snag prior to the connections which is something.
The BER cert I got was A2 but watermarked as ‘provisional’. Bank said it’s useful to have as an indication that the green mortgage will be approved but they do require the final one.
I think design centre, Creche, gym etc are not necessarily going to happen anytime soon. I believe Ballymore are not obliged, planning wise, to follow through on them. Estate agent said gym more than likely won’t go ahead. They might have more information on
I'm not a local but I am very familiar with the area. If anyone has questions about schools, amenities etc please feel free to DM me.
Thanks @ultracrepidarian for name of that snagger! I'll check them out. @beepboopbeep Glad to hear that they seem to be in good shape. Would you recommend your snagger?
Our solicitor received a letter yesterday stating that there was delays. We presume it means our 5th Nov snag date is being pushed out again - ESB and Irish Water delays. A bit unfortunate but expected.
Has anyone heard any news on what the 'Design Centre' is for?
Hi. So glad to have found this thread! We’ve bought in phase 2 and have been given a completion date of April 2023..can’t wait to move in 😊 Good luck to ye who are hoping to be in by Christmas! @ultracrepidarian let us know how you get on with snagmyhouse. Was recommended them also
@Blackbird2022 BER should definitely be A2, as @beepboopbeep said the construction started in 2021 so they're legally obligated to be A2.
@MaximilienMK, we were recommended Snag My House, snagmyhouse(dot)ie. We haven't gotten our date for snagging yet, so I can't comment on them first-hand.
Glad to hear people are getting in to snag. Hopefully, the hold-ups are minimal. I'd imagine they're keen to get some people in before Christmas and get some more money and start to promote phase 2.
Oh no, I hope it's not pushed back again. We are so eager to get in also.
We haven't contacted any snaggers yet so would be interested to know if people have recommendations too.
Hopefully the BER rating is just provisional and will be updated to A2 when the house is complete? 🤔 I will update when I hear from my solicitor anyway.
@MaximilienMK the A2 ratings apply to houses where construction started after November 2019. It was the second half of 2021 when these houses were started and the brochure has an A2 BER logo on it.
My snagger commented on how high spec the houses were relative to the usual developments he snags, which is a good sign!
Hi - we've bought a house in phase 1 also. Glad to have found this thread!
Nothing new to add though - similar to Illywhacker, we've been given 5th Nov for snagging but when I was last speaking to the Estate Agent, she told us not be surprised if this was pushed out a little more. We've been told the main hold up is Irish Water.
Can't wait to move in! Has anyone looked into snaggers? Any recommendations?
@Blackbird2022 A2 may be the current requirement but this particular development was approved in 2018 so I suspect you'd have to check what the requirement was in 2018
Yeah I'm very confused about the rating. I will get my solicitor to follow it up so I'll post here when I find out. I had googled it earlier also and the regulations do stage that it has to be A2.
I hope you hear about a move in date soon.
My impression is that the ESB are on site (our house had electricity) but are quite slow to complete the work on the houses so not all are connected yet. Irish Water don’t seem to be on site at all. That’s odd that your house got an A3 rating - don’t the regulations require at least an A2 rating now? We haven’t gotten a BER cert yet, although we haven’t requested one either.
That's our worry too. We are with AIB and their rates are going up from the 14th of November.
That's strange about the completion notice. We kept hearing it was ESB who were delaying things there.
Yeah, about a week but we haven’t gotten an official completion notice yet so it’s still a little unclear of when our move in date will be. I’m hoping things push on soon with the mortgage rates rising!
Oh that's brilliant. Great to hear. And did you get much notice for the invitation to snag? A week or ?
Thank you
We got in to snag last week and were told that Irish Water is delaying things but there didn’t seem to be a good idea of when that would be resolved. The house was in great shape, though - very little to snag.
Hi Illywhacker,
Just curious if you have heard anything yet about the proposed 5th of November closing date? I wonder how much notice they will give?
I'm just hoping it won't be delayed again. We requested a provisional BER certificate and received one this week with an A3 rating, even thought they are advertised at A2.
Oh well at least that's a nice timeline. Good to hear, thanks for sharing.
I spoke with the estate agent today and they said that our handover date had been pushed into December but the handover began this week and would go roughly row by row up until Christmas. So, it seems like all (or most) of phase 1 will be handed over by Christmas but we won't be closed until January.
Hey,
Oh that's great news. Thank you, we will do the same.
