Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

There is a ticking timebomb when it comes to multi-unit developments and their sinking funds. As apartments built during the Celtic tiger era reach 20 years of age, sinking funds will increasingly be needed to fund repairs to leaking roofs and lifts that need to be replaced. When those sinking funds are insufficient, repairs cannot take place and apartment owners may be levied sums they simply cannot afford. Failure to regulate management companies properly, combined with sinking funds being used to fund building defects, means that in the next few years, this crisis will come to a head. It cannot be ignored yet that is what the Government has done.

There was a commitment in the programme for Government to review the Multi-Unit Developments Act but it has not been progressed. While the Housing Agency drafted regulations on sinking funds and service charges last February, the Department of Justice failed to publish them. When will those draft regulations be published? When will the commitment in the programme for Government to reform the Multi-Unit Developments Act be implemented? When will a regulator for management companies with robust enforcement powers be established?

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