Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am raising another serious situation. This morning I spoke to a number of apartment owners in Kildare who are being bullied and intimidated by property management companies. Apart from other issues, those owners are now being told that the maintenance fees they have to pay are being doubled. The problem is that there is a complete lack of regulation in this area. My colleague, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, introduced a Bill in this House dealing with the issue of property management companies. That Bill has passed Second Stage and provides for an ombudsman to be put in place for the 500,000 people whose properties are governed by management companies. That would help to bring resolution to disputes in this area. I know that there have been some meetings in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government on this issue. This is a vital issue because as time goes on, we will have many more management companies overseeing multi-apartment buildings. I would really appreciate support on this issue.

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