Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 393: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the responsibility that falls to local authorities in the case of apartment developments which will be managed by a management company to ensure they are fully completed in accordance with the planning permission; in the case of mixed developments, the obligation the local authorities have to take such estates in charge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15899/11]

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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The developer of any development, including a residential development, is statutorily required to complete the development in accordance with the terms of the planning permission. A development which has not been completed in accordance with the planning permission is unauthorised development. Enforcement of planning control is a matter for the planning authorities, who have substantial enforcement powers and obligations under the legislation.

A planning authority may issue an enforcement notice, non-compliance with which is an offence, in connection with an unauthorised development, requiring such steps as the authority considers necessary to be taken within a specified period. If an enforcement notice is not complied with the planning authority may itself take the specified steps and recover the expense incurred in doing so. A planning authority may seek a court order requiring any particular action to be done or not to be done. A planning authority may also refuse permission to any developer who has substantially failed to comply with a previous planning permission.

The Planning Acts also place clear statutory obligations on planning authorities in relation to unauthorised development. A planning authority must issue a warning letter in relation to written complaints regarding unauthorised development, or in relation to any other unauthorised development it becomes aware of (except in the case of trivial or minor development). There is also a statutory obligation to carry out an investigation and expeditiously decide whether an enforcement notice should be issued or a court order should be sought, under section 160 of the 2000 Act. Where a planning authority establishes, following an investigation, that unauthorised development (other than development that is of a trivial or minor nature) has been or is being carried out, and the person who has carried out the development has not proceeded to remedy the position, then the planning authority must issue an enforcement notice or seek a court order, unless there are compelling reasons for not doing so. The above provisions apply to all residential developments, whether or not they are to be managed by a management company.

Insofar as the taking in charge of residential developments is concerned, Section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 provides that, where an estate is completed to the satisfaction of the planning authority in accordance with the planning permission (and any conditions attached to the permission), the planning authority must initiate taking in charge procedures as soon as possible following a request to do so by the developer or by the majority of the owners. Similarly, where an estate has not been completed to the standard outlined in the planning permission and the planning authority has not taken enforcement action within the appropriate period, section 180 also provides that the planning authority must initiate taking in charge procedures if requested to do so by the owners of the units concerned. The decision as whether an estate should be taken in charge is ultimately one for the elected members of the planning authority.

Section 180 was amended in the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2010 to provide that a planning authority may take in charge an unfinished estate at any time after the expiration of the planning permission, in situations where enforcement actions have failed or the planning authority has not taken enforcement action. Planning authorities were also specifically empowered in 2010 Act to take in charge part of an estate, or some but not all of the facilities in an estate.