Report on Multi-Unit Developments - Law Reform Commission

efore the time of sale that it is intended that the development remain private;
this can cause problems. For estates with large landscaped grounds, for
example, the annual service charge may prove to be considerable and where a
purchaser finds themselves paying unforeseen service charges, there is clearly
a problem. Accordingly, the Commission recommends that there is an onus on
the developer when applying for planning permission to establish whether it is
intended that the development will be taken in charge. The Commission also
recommends that there should be an obligation on the developer or the
developer‘s selling agent to establish to potential purchasers when the units are
placed on the market whether the intention is that the development‘s common
external areas will remain private. This is in line with the Department of
Environment, Heritage and Local Government‘s recent recommendation that it
should be established by the local authority at pre-planning stage whether it is
envisaged that the development will be taken in charge. 5
2.09 The Commission recommends that there should be an onus on the
developer or the developer‟s selling agent to establish at pre-planning stage
whether it is intended that the development‟s common external areas will be
taken in charge by the local authority or remain as a private development.
2.10 Linked to the type of information which should be made available to
the unit purchaser on the potential sale of a unit, the Commission wishes to
reiterate the recommendation in the 2005 <strong>Report</strong> of the Auctioneering/Estate
Agency Review Group that some regulation of sales off plan should be
introduced. 6 The developer must supply all of the necessary information
relevant to off plan sales to the selling agent who will be obliged to make any
potential purchaser of a unit aware of the particulars of this information. As a
result, the Commission echoes the Group‘s recommendation that where new
units are being sold off plan, scalable drawings and/or measurements must be
given and justifiable estimates of service charges provided. The basis of
measurement must be provided. 7
5
6
Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Circular Letter PD
1/08, Taking in Charge of Residential Developments/ Management
Arrangements, p.2 and Annex to Circular Letter PD 1/08 Framework for a
Comprehensive Taking in Charge Policy February 2008, paragraph 3.4: Early
identification of the areas to be taken in charge.
<strong>Report</strong> of the Auctioneering/Estate Agency Review Group (2005),
recommendation No. 26, available at www.justice.ie. The <strong>Report</strong>‘s
recommendations are due to be implemented in the Government‘s Property
Services Regulatory Authority Bill 2008, which will be published in the near future:
see Introduction, paragraph 24, above.
7
Ibid.
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