Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

I will briefly outline the situation of one of my constituents, who is a member of a management company and lives in an apartment. It is indicative of the problem faced by many other people when there is no legislation in place to regulate this area and they cannot go the National Property Services Regulatory Authority to advise it or mediate the issue on their behalf.

My constituent has lived in a small apartment in west Dublin for over two years and has been sent numerous bills by the managing agent. It appears that after two years the constituent owes approximately €6,500. He has raised numerous problems with the service being provided by the managing agent. The lifts were out of order for six months, carpets that were ripped were not repaired, broken light fittings have not been fixed and rubbish such as refrigerators dumped in the stairwells has not been removed. He took photographs to show me and to bring to court. The state of the common areas was appalling.

He was eventually summonsed to go to court by the management company. He initially brought a solicitor with him to court, at a cost of €600. However, the legal team for the management company did not turn up and the case was struck out. He was then summonsed again for the same amount. On that occasion he tried to defend himself. He brought the photographs and listed the services that had not been provided but, unfortunately, the judge found against him. He intends to appeal the case. He subsequently received another summons for almost €5,000. If there is another judgment against him, he will owe approximately €7,000 and will possibly have to pay legal costs as well.

My constituent is trying to defend himself as best he can but he does not have the ability to do so. He did not have the ability to persuade the judge. I practised as a solicitor and I knew when I looked at the photographs and material he showed me that he had not received the service for which he is being charged. That should have been taken into account in the court decision. The problem is that he is not experienced and he is up against the big legal team of the management company or management agent — they are more or less the same. He is unable to defend himself. I believe many people will not even try to defend themselves and will have judgments registered against them. Some people will pay the charges even though they are being charged unfair amounts and are not receiving the services. Those who do not pay will have judgments and judgment mortgages registered against them for amounts of approximately €7,000.

Many of the people concerned bought so-called affordable housing units, which turned out to be apartments or houses in managed complexes. They are not well off and can barely pay their mortgages, let alone the exorbitant management fees. They cannot afford legal costs and have nowhere to turn. They approach their local representatives but we cannot help them either because the situation is a mess. I have been in contact with the National Property Services Regulatory Authority and I suggested to another constituent that he write to the authority to see if it could help him, but the authority replied that it could not because there is no legal basis for it to deal with people who are members of management companies.

We do not need large complicated reports; there are plenty of them. The Minister need only copy the Private Residential Tenancies Board legislation and substitute the National Property Services Regulatory Authority for the board. This will give the authority the legal standing to meet with clients and mediate on their behalf. The Minister can put other legislation in place afterwards. It is not a complicated matter. If there was a means whereby people could negotiate and mediate, they would at least not get fleeced and there might be a possibility of compromise, with reasonable management fees and a better service.

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