Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

What does the Government propose to do about the plight of thousands of people, most of them young, who find themselves burdened with management companies in housing estates located for the most part around Dublin? These are young people who in many cases did not know when they purchased their homes that they would end up contractually wedded to a management company for an excessive fee to deliver often illusory services.

Local authorities have for some time made it a condition of planning approval that these management companies be set up. Such companies are customarily a front for the developer. They start out with this condition in the purchase so the unsuspecting young person does not know until a year later when he or she receives an invoice that he or she is required to pay what is usually a grossly excessive fee for services that do not materialise. In some cases, fees have more than doubled from one year to the next.

There are several examples of major estates around Dublin where the householder is helpless to establish who is responsible for which service. He or she contacts the management company, which refers him or her to the developer. The developer then refers him or her to the local authority. He or she returns to the management company, which refers him or her to the management agent who collects the money. The householder finds out that he or she is contractually bound.

See this speech in context