Grace O'Sullivan (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 20:

In page 44, between lines 9 and 10, to insert the following:“Amendment of section 2 of Principal Act

7. Section 2 of the Principal Act is amended in subsection (1) by the insertion of the following:

“ ‘satisfactory completion’ includes compliance of all houses with the Building Regulations.”.”.

Sections 34(4)(f) and (g) of the 2000 Act currently provide that conditions can be imposed requiring satisfactory completion and the giving of security for satisfactory completion. Amendment No. 20 provides that the concept of satisfactory completion includes compliance with existing regulations for houses and apartments.

Amendment No. 36 would require planning authorities to include such conditions when granting permission for developments with more than one dwelling unit. Unfortunately, what often happens to purchasers of houses or apartments which have been built outside the regulations is that they have no comeback to recover the cost of repairing the damage done. Those conditions would help to address the appalling situation faced by owners of houses and apartments which have been badly constructed in multi-unit developments. It requires that the planning permissions for those developments would include security to ensure compliance of the houses or apartments with the building regulations.