Seanad debates

Tuesday, 18 November 2008

3:00 pm

Photo of Tony KettTony Kett (Fianna Fail)

As someone who is going through the uncertainty to which Senator Prendergast referred, I support her call for the appropriate and adequate funding of certain cancer services.

Will the Leader ask the appropriate Minister — I am not sure whether it is the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government — whether legislation will be considered for the regulation of management companies? These companies oversee the running of the apartment complexes which are largely occupied by young, first-time buyers. There is no regulation of these companies, which seem able to charge whatever fee they wish. I was contacted recently by a young woman who purchased her home in 2006 — in either the good times or the bad times, depending on how one looks at it — when she paid over the odds for an apartment that is now worth €50,000 or €60,000 less. However, her annual management fee has increased from €1,090 in 2007 to €1,800 in 2008. It seems that where apartments in a complex remain unsold, the management companies simply lump those lost fees on to the owners of the occupied apartments. That is very unfair on first-time buyers who are already struggling to pay their mortgages and who now find themselves with annual management fees which are the equivalent or more of a monthly mortgage repayment. Something must be done to introduce regulation in this area.

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