Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

I welcome the Minister. I welcome the general principle of this legislation. It bears testimony to the good work done by agencies such as the Law Reform Commission and the National Consumer Agency. This Bill has been a long time coming. I am glad we are reaching the end of the process of sorting out the mess in our management agencies and companies. It is fair to say that there are many good management companies. That must be recognised. I do not want to tar every company with the same brush. However, it is clear the lack of regulation and legislation in the system allows some bad apples to cause a great deal of trouble for many apartment dwellers and home owners.

I refer to a few specific aspects of the Bill. I am glad sinking funds are provided for in the legislation. The figure mentioned in the Bill is €200 per annum per apartment. That will go some way to ensuring sufficient reserves are in place for when things break down. I am aware of apartment blocks in County Meath where the lack of a sinking fund is making it difficult to repair things such as lifts. I know of an apartment block in which the lift has been left unfixed for almost a year, which is intolerable for the many residents who have to pay these charges on an ongoing basis. I am glad sinking funds have been provided for because they are needed.

I am pleased a section of the Bill aims to ensure fees are justified rather than excessive and are applied in a manner that is transparent to apartment owners. There have been instances of developers and management companies charging, or seeking to charge, excessive fees with no real justification or explanation of why they are needed.

I am glad the Bill proposes to change the existing regime of voting rights. That will go a long way to ensuring people have the ability to run their own apartment blocks as they see fit.

I have a query about section 17 which deals with house rules. While I am in favour of house rules, in principle, I have some concerns. Will some kind of appeals process be provided for? Will best practice be followed when decisions are made on what the house rules should cover? It is possible that some over-zealous residents could try to impose house rules that are a little over the top. We need to be cautious in this respect. I would like to see some mechanism for ensuring house rules are measured and cannot be deemed excessive.

I signal that the Labour Party may table amendments at a later stage to modify some aspects of this legislation. The first area of concern is the question of voting rights for the residents of apartment complexes that have been completed. I would like some clarification in this respect. Developers sometimes put an unjustly weighted voting system in place before they transfer ownership to residents. I refer specifically to completed apartment blocks. I ask the Minister to address this issue.

I would like to pick up on a point about housing estates made by Senators O'Toole and Mullen. Are traditional housing estates covered by this legislation? It appears to me it relates solely to apartment blocks and not to housing estates. Local authorities in many parts of the country have imposed management companies on new housing estates of the traditional kind. There are approximately 1,000 traditional three-bedroom, four-bedroom and five-bedroom houses in the Grange Rath estate outside Drogheda. Everyone who owns a house in the estate has to form part of the estate's management company. That approach was probably adopted because the local county council does not have a parks department. The local authority may have been keen to ensure the common areas are maintained and a system is put in place to take care of the upkeep of the estate. While many housing estates, including Grange Rath, have excellent management companies, I am aware of problems in other estates caused by a lack of regulation. It would be interesting to ascertain whether this legislation covers traditional housing estates. If not, when can we expect to see legislation in this area? I am signalling that we may table some amendments on Committee Stage.

We welcome this Bill, in principle. We compliment the Minister and his staff on the work they have done on this complex matter. We look forward to seeing the legislation become law.