Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

Tá mé ag roinnt mo chuid ama leis an Teachta Chris Andews. Cuirim fáilte roimh an deis labhairt ar an mBille um Fhorbairtí Ilaonad 2009. I ndáiríre, tá sé thar am go mbeadh an dlí seo againn. Tá sé thar a bheith deacair ar a lán daoine atá ag déanamh iarracht íoc as na hárasáin, srl., atá acu go dtagann billí uafásacha móra anuas orthu gan aon fhreagracht, i ndáiríre, uathu siúd a ghearrann na costaisí sin orthu.

As the newly appointed spokesperson on justice for the Green Party, I welcome the opportunity to engage on this legislation from the Department of Justice and Law Reform. I have had hundreds of representations from people in my constituency, Dublin North, who have had problems, often intractable and frustrating, with management companies. While one may say a buyer-beware caveat should have been adhered to when making a purchase and receiving legal advice, that is not very comforting for anybody. Legislation in this area has been lacking and it is high time we had it. I hope that when this legislation is passed, many people will have a say in and an ability to influence their own destinies, more so than heretofore.

As a consequence of the exploitation of apartment dwellers and the unjustifiable fees demanded, many of us in the Green Party, when negotiating the programme for Government, were determined to ensure this legislation would be rigorous and that it would be forthcoming as quickly as possible. It is important that we consider Second Stage before the recess so we can deal with Committee Stage.

Let me give a flavour of correspondence I received from a certain individual. He states he purchased a duplex unit under the shared ownership scheme with Fingal County Council. He was told by the council the management fee would be €550 per year and that this would include insurance and bin charges. He says that others were told different things. He was told the charge was for the year. He lives in a courtyard where there is no street lighting. There were lights but they were not switched on until late October or the start of November, thus creating a danger for pedestrians in the area. The manager of the management company resigned and the director was a developer. A new management company was introduced and again the developer appeared as a director. This is bizarre but unfortunately not unique or unusual. My constituent has not been able to make contact with the individuals concerned, never mind have a say in his destiny. He was landed with a bill of €940 in service charges for his duplex apartment, including an additional €250 fee for refuse services. This differed considerably from what he was told to expect. When he was given a breakdown of the charges, they included such services as external window cleaning, but there is no record and certainly no evidence of window cleaning ever having been carried out.

Unfortunately, this type of carry-on has been rife and many people have rightly complained. It is no wonder that so many of us have been approached by people who have become fed up and frustrated by this level of exploitation. As other Deputies stated, some of this exploitation has also been visited upon householders in estates that include apartments and are caught up in management company structures. We need to clarify the matter, as amendments may be necessary to ensure we do not create a blind spot in respect of those who, while not living in multi-unit developments, are affected by the same issues.

Some Deputies referred to refusals to pay management fees. I have encountered such incidents, but I hope they constitute the end of this type of stand-off. As Deputy Terence Flanagan stated while discussing fire safety, a genuine risk is created when a stand-off leads to fees not being paid, in that stair-wells might not be cleaned and rubbish might accumulate. Before people know it, they will have created the conditions that can become the subject of an inquiry as to why rubbish was left to accumulate and a fire was caused, although hopefully one without tragic consequences. I share the Deputy's concerns about fire safety and inspections, but I hope we will see an end to the type of militant stand-off that could end in a fire disaster.

I hope the Minister for Justice and Law Reform will provide clarification on a number of issues before we consider amendments. Local authorities must be involved in the drafting of this legislation. In some instances, a management company has been established as an easy way for a local authority not to take charge of a development. During the time of the so-called building boom, the perception might have been that taking charge of further developments would have stretched local authorities' staffing resources to an unmanageable degree. Therefore, management companies were an attractive interim or longer term arrangement. The system has become fixed and we are left with a legacy of places with management companies that should not have them. For all intents and purposes, they are straightforward housing estates, not multi-unit developments.

This matter must be revisited and clarified, given the level of confusion affecting the residents of estates in my constituency. With residents from one estate, I met the Minister of State, Deputy Cuffe, to try to iron out where building regulation law was inadequate. While it might be inadequate in some respects, it might also be the case that local authorities have not provided sufficient levels of inspection or followed up on complaints and have instead off-loaded those complaints to a management company that is not qualified or in a position to take on what the local authority should have been doing. I hope the legislation can iron out this grey area. If additional legislation is required to upgrade our building control regulations, let us have it quickly because people are suffering for want of robust legislation.

This Bill is essential, but building regulation law must be tightened. The responsibilities of management companies need to be defined and responsibility for building control needs to be clarified. There should be no confusion. Local authorities need to be involved, as it is their responsibility to ensure proper building regulation is in place. Residents should expect no less.

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