Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality under the Multi Unit Development Act 2011, if it is possible for individual residential houses, which do not have common areas, such as green space, communal hallways or corridors, which prevail in apartment blocks, to unilaterally take steps to resign from the membership of a management company, whereby they feel that they do not derive any benefit from their membership thereof and if the Act facilitates such an option; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42129/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The primary purpose of the Multi-Unit Developments Act 2011 is to reform the law relating to the ownership and management of common areas of multi-unit developments and to facilitate the fair, efficient and effective management of owners' management companies (OMCs) which are the bodies established for the management of such areas.

The general position is that the purchaser of a residential unit in a multi-unit development obtains a long lease on the individual unit concerned and membership of the OMC. The latter generally owns not only any common areas of the development but also the reversion, whether freehold or leasehold, in all the residential units. These arrangements, and any related covenants, e.g. the requirement to pay service charges to the OMC, are normally contained in the purchaser's title deeds. In order to avoid the conveyancing difficulties which might otherwise arise on the sale of a residential unit in a multi-unit development, section 8 of the 2011 Act now provides for automatic transfer of membership of the OMC from the vendor to the purchaser of such a unit without the need to execute a transfer.

In these circumstances, resignation of the owner of a residential unit from the OMC would be likely to involve a breach of covenants in the owner's title deeds and give rise to conveyancing difficulties in the event of any future transfer or sale or the unit.