Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 4, between lines 13 and 14, to insert the following:

""complete" in relation to a development means complete to the agreed satisfaction of the developer and the owners' management company and the planning authority;".

I welcome the Minister to the House. We had a full debate on Committee Stage on many of these amendments. The Labour Party's amendments have been updated to reflect the debate on Committee Stage. Amendment No. 1 was tabled on Committee Stage but amendment No. 26 was not. It arises out of the debate on Committee Stage.

I am grateful to the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, RIAI, and to the Apartment Owners Network, both of which have been helpful in conveying their views as to how the Bill could be improved. We are all seeking constructively to improve the Bill rather than oppose it. The Department has also been in contact with different parties with an interest in the Bill. There may well be further amendments. The Government has tabled a number of amendments on Report Stage today and others may be introduced in the Dáil.

Amendment No. 1 was tabled on Committee Stage. It arises out of a concern to ensure completion is properly dealt with in the Bill. It would place in section 1 a new definition of the word "complete" which would be "complete to the agreed satisfaction of the developer and the owners' management company and the planning authority".

This amendment is being debated with amendments Nos. 26 and 27. Amendment No. 26 elaborates on the need to ensure more specific detail about completion. It would insert a new section 11, requiring a developer who has completed a development in accordance with the definition in amendment No. 1 to serve a notice of completion on the owners' management company, the planning authority, the building control authority and the other parties scheduled in section 20 stating that the development is complete. It goes on to give some very detailed provisions as to the sequence of events where, for example, a party listed in section 20 objects to completion of the transfer to the owners' management company. The amendment provides a great deal more certainty as to the process of completion. The RIAI has been in contact with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and has raised concerns about the need to ensure this level of detail about the completion process. I will be interested to hear what the Minister has to say on this and if he is willing to accept in principle the need for an amendment of this nature.

Amendment No. 27 was tabled on Committee Stage. It refers to an aspect of completion which is the snag list. The amendment proposes that the relevant local authority or an independent party may be requested to carry out a snag list where the development is substantially completed. The amendment then provides that where the developer fails to carry out a snag list within three months of the determination, he or she should pay to the owners' management company "a sum equal in value to the cost of completing the development to enable the snag list to be completed". This amendment also seeks to ensure the completion process is watertight and that completion is carried out to the agreed satisfaction of the developer, the owners' management company and the planning authority. It is in keeping with the spirit and stated aims of the Bill which are to ensure greater certainty and security for apartment owners and purchasers in the completion of apartments.