Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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192. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality to explain the rights a homeowner who is paying management company fees annually has to ensure that the steps to the property are fully fixed by the management company (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21955/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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While I am not in a position to interpret the law or to comment on individual cases in response to a Parliamentary Question, the general position is that an owners' management company (OMC) has obligations to maintain and, where necessary, repair common areas of a multi-unit development for which it has responsibility. The question of whether any steps leading to a residential unit form part of the common areas should be clear from the owner's title documents.

As regards service charges, the position is that section 18 of the Multi-Unit Developments 2011 requires each OMC to establish and maintain a scheme of annual service charges to fund the costs of insurance, maintenance and other common or shared services. These service charges, which are not therefore directly related to the value of residential units in the development, must be calculated on a transparent basis, be apportioned on an equitable basis between unit owners and be approved by the owners at a meeting of the OMC. Section 18 also provides that each owner is under an obligation to pay annual service charges, while section 22 provides that unpaid service charges may be recovered by the OMC concerned as a simple contract debt in a court of competent jurisdiction.

Section 24 of the Act deals with the resolution of disputes and it provides that a person may apply to court for an order to enforce any right conferred or obligation imposed by the Act. The court, if satisfied that a right has been infringed or an obligation has not been discharged, may make such remedial order as it deems appropriate in the circumstances with a view to ensuring the effective enforcement of the right or the effective discharge of the obligation.