Darragh O'Brien (Dublin North, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. To follow on from some of the earlier comments, I agree with Deputy Rabbitte in regard to the property price register, which we should move quickly towards because it gives certainty within the market, in particular to potential buyers. I note that Deputy Rabbitte did not comment on the fact work has been ongoing. I have had occasion to question the Property Registration Authority Ireland, PRAI, when it came to the Committee of Public Accounts two to three months ago, and I am aware work has been ongoing with the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran, in that regard.

A proper register on the sale of properties is something we need to move towards because the difficulty is that uncertainty leads to stagnation in the market - I speak as one who was a first-time buyer not too long ago, which I will return to shortly. To take my area of north Dublin, which has the youngest population in the country at an average age of 32.5 years, many people there are looking to get on the housing ladder but are unsure as to whether it is the right time or if there will ever be a right time. Publishing statistics that are area-specific is a measure I would like to have expedited. I am pleased work is ongoing but we cannot delay further. What impressed me about the PRAI was the work it has done in bringing its systems up to speed in this regard, and this is something we need to follow very quickly with legislation. If that requires amendment to data protection legislation, we should do this as it will assist the whole sector.

I take this opportunity to welcome what I read on the RTE news website today about the agreement seemingly reached today by lawyers for Menolly Homes and the Lagan Group with regard to the pyrite difficulties in my area, as well as in many areas across the country. I understand the judge has adjourned the case for six weeks to allow for consultation with residents in the affected estates. Without seeing the full detail of that agreement, it might be an important step forward to give certainty to home owners who, in the main in areas such as Kinsealy, purchased their homes in 2005-06 and now have grave difficulties with their houses. I give this a guarded welcome. I want to see the detail of the agreement in the next week in order to discuss it with my constituents and find how they feel about it. It might be an important step forward.

Building control within the State is another area that needs to be examined in great detail. When developments are finished, there is no point having the building control units of local authorities signing matters off the plans and designs. The United Kingdom has a very different system whereby inspections take place at each stage of a housing development and are signed off on-site. This issue has led to some of the problems in my area of north Dublin and I would like the area of building control to be addressed.

To move to the Bill itself, I would not be nearly as critical as some of the speakers. It is an important step in the right direction. We have been crying out for independent regulation of this sector. The issues are complex, however, and I speak as one who lives in a managed estate. I have had personal experience of dealing with a managing agent in Malahide and, prior to that, with a management company that simply was not up to scratch in terms of the services it was providing. I see this consistently in my area of north Dublin. There are managing agents who do their jobs well and work with residents, who are, after all, the owners of the managing company. This point is often forgotten. When I meet residents of managed estates, I am shocked by the number of people who do not realise that they themselves own a part of that management company and it is the managing agent's duty to discharge the services on behalf of the owners of that company.

The problem has been that when an agent is not performing its duties, producing accounts or responding to queries and complaints within an estate but is simply collecting the management fees, this has a vicious circle effect, namely, people withhold their management fees and the services cannot be provided within the estates, which then run into debt. Those debts are carried by the owners of the company, namely, the residents. I am specifically interested in the provisions in the Bill for managing agents and a proper authority which will have the teeth to deal with complaints. In my own area of Malahide, we had to come together as residents to pressure a managing agent to leave. We did not have legal powers to force the agent's departure because the structure of the company was such that its board was controlled by the developer. That is not a way for people to live in their own communities. This Bill will ensure that people have recourse to the property services regulatory authority and a compensation fund.

Heretofore, some managing agents have enjoyed a free lunch. I do not want to tar all agents with the same brush because I have dealt with individuals who perform their duties extremely well and offer good value for money. However, under the planning regime that has obtained for the past several years, local authorities have made permission for many housing estates and apartment developments conditional on being managed on a private basis. In many instances, this was done to allow the local authority to abrogate its responsibility to residents. I am pleased to note that amendments were brought to the last two Fingal County Council development plans to ensure that housing only developments were not given over to management companies. This example ought to be followed across the country.

Under the Bill, the property services regulatory authority will be tasked with controlling and supervising the providers of property services in order to improve standards. We only have to open any local or national newspaper to read complaints from people who are dependent on managing agents to provide basic services. The licensing system will cover auctioneers, letting agents and property management agencies and the information collected will be made available to residents to allow them to decide who is best able to look after their estates. The authority will also have a comprehensive investigative and enforcement function and its scope will extend to property management services. It will be empowered to appoint inspectors to carry out investigations of licensees either on its own accord or on foot of a complaint. If a licensee is convicted of an offence under the Act, the court may in some cases revoke all licences he or she may hold and prohibit him or her from reapplying for a licence either permanently or temporarily. That is a serious sanction which will make people sit up and take their responsibilities seriously.

The new regulatory regime will be funded by fee income generated by the authority from licences and other services. We have nothing to fear from regulation. My previous career was in the independent insurance broker market. While there has been considerable discussion about the Financial Regulator and the banks, independent financial advisers have moved quickly in response to good regulation and the people who were not doing their jobs properly were weeded out. This Bill will have the same effect on property management companies.

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