Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

The list circulated to Members contains various amendments made to the Bill in the Dáil. While it is a long list, the majority are drafting amendments or otherwise designed to clarify the text of the Bill and improve presentation. The remainder are substantive amendments mainly designed to strengthen safeguards for apartment owners and improve the operation of the Bill's provisions. Many of them respond to issues first raised during the constructive discussions on the Bill in this House.

The first group of substantive amendments deals with the important topic of completion as it affects multi-unit developments. This issue was raised by a number of Senators in the course of earlier discussions. Members will recall that on Report Stage in this House I tabled an amendment to require a developer to enter into a contract with an owner management company prior to the transfer of the common areas of the development. This provision has been strengthened in the meantime with a view to providing additional safeguards for purchasers of units in a development. Amendment No. 17 specifies significant additional requirements for inclusion in this contract between the developer and the owner management company. The contract must now contain arrangements for confirmation of compliance with the applicable statutory requirements such as, for example, compliance with planning permission conditions imposed by the local authority, as well as compliance with the relevant building control standards. It also must contain arrangements for the completion of works in common areas such as, for instance, painting indoor common areas or planting in outdoor areas. It must contain arrangements for the release of retention money which may have been provided for in the contract between the developer and the owner management company. Importantly, it must contain details of the process to be followed in the event of a dispute between the parties concerning completion of the development. Amendment No. 23 contains an additional safeguard for the owner management company by providing that, for the purposes of negotiating or entering into a contract with a developer, the owner management company must have separate legal representation at the expense of the developer.

Fire safety in a multi-unit development is of the utmost importance. With a view to ensuring adequate fire safety standards in such a development, I have provided in amendment No. 16 that, prior to the transfer of common areas to the owner management company, the developer must provide the owner management company with a certificate from a suitably qualified person that the building has been constructed in accordance with the fire safety certificate issued by the relevant fire authority prior to construction. This represents an important advance on the current position. The certificate of compliance must be supplied by a suitably qualified person. It is my intention to make regulations referred to in amendment No. 25 which will specify the classes of persons deemed to be suitably qualified to provide certificates of compliance as soon as practicable after the enactment of the Bill. Amendments Nos. 1 and 4 contain consequential changes to the definitions of "development stage" and "relevant parts".

Amendments Nos. 93, 103 and 104 are concerned with the documentation to be provided by the developer for an owner management company The documents specified and outlined in Schedule 3 must be handed over to the owner management company at the end of the development stage. Amendment No. 103 amends clause 12 in Schedule 3 to provide that relevant information on fire protection systems must be provided, while amendment No. 104 amends clause 13 in Schedule 3 to make it clear that the documentation outlined in the clause must be given to the owner management company, except in cases where that documentation has already been furnished by the developer to the company. These amendments strengthen the Bill and will provide substantial additional safeguards for both owner management companies and individual apartment owners.