Apartment sales prove biggest casualty of property slowdown

The Irish Property Bubble (2006) The Republic of Property
#1

from the Tribune.

There’s plenty more in the article.

#2

40,000 is probably the housing list solved for Dublin alone.

#3

Even without the boom/bust cycle this is a risk as you have little control over how the building is maintained.

#4

And apartment blocks don’t age well. Something that looks spanking and new now can look like something from the seventies in a few years.

#5

At least the older apartments were a decent size though.

#6

My 10 year old luxury apartment block (Where I rent) is falling apart, and the neighbors are refusing to let the Management Company in to fix it.

#7

My 2 year old luxury apartment block is falling apart, with the storms over the last 2 weeks water has come through the roof and the damp plaster is falling off the ceiling, the carpets in the hallways are soaking.

Fortunately I rent too, but people paid upwards of 500k for these…

#8

The 1.5 yr old complex in which we rent an apartment is falling apart. This is due to using the cheapest materials possible. Give it ten years and it will look like something that has been abandened in Chernoble.
The builders who are still trying to sell the apartments have the cheek to call them luxury apartments. The apartment is anything but luxurious. Basic would be a better description. No plugs in the bathroom, tiny cheap mirror. Plugs have no power on/off switch. The builders probably save 200 euros going for the cheaper plugs. For someone living in the apartment it is a lifetime of annoyance dealing with all the inadequacies.

#9

there has to be law suit potential there. If I bought a ‘luxury apartment’ for half a million i’d expect it to last more than 2 years.

I wonder what effect a few high profile law suits would have on the property and banking sectors

#10

I am of the opinion that the identities of these Developments showed be known and save would be buyers from also being conned.

#11

Bathrooms are not allowed to have plugs - except the razor socket.

(People might get electrocuted - and sue the builder/architect/developer).

#12

I’m afraid I’m of the opinion that I don’t get sued.
A lot of developers are finding it hard to thread water at the moment. I don’t intend being their life bouy. Let them sink.

#13

I’m aware of that. There is no razor socket and no excuses for it but a cheap builder trying to count pennies.

#14

The truth will stand up in any forum.

Also ‘Bertiebasher’ talks of cheap builders as the offenders. It is the well organised, well funded developers who have everything cut to the most basic and have extracted the maximum profits from their developments.

#15

You are right Michael. A whole new forum would be required for that on this site , photos a requisite .

At least 10 units in the block for starters.

#16

This is true in the end.
However, I don’t want to put my money on the line against some builder who has nothing to loose. For example he loses and he goes bankrupt. Before all that I loose money every which way paying solicitors, taking time off work etc. In the end I get the judgement but I don’t get my expenses paid cause the builder was a limited company and has declared himself bankrupt.
Besides I have nothing to gain going up against a builder. I know what I need to know to avoid the pitfalls.

Actually, it is not the builders fault if he uses the cheapest material possible (He just has no morals). This means the builder is a good businessman. After all, the reason for being in business is to make money.
The fault lies with politicians. They should have put regulations in place to prohibit builders building the muck that has been built through the boom period. This country is far behind the UK in terms of regulation for the building industry. And the UK in turn is far behind everybody else in Europe. Hardly surprising when you consider FF and the rich builders in this country are in bed together.

#17

If anyone is interested I have a site set up for tracking just this sort of stuff over at www.flatrate.ie, it is for renter reviews, but it would just as easily be reviews of development quality.

Anyone interested in drawing up a list of things to watch out for when viewing an appartment that may at first appear luxury, but in fact have had corners cut.

Here are a few:
Switches on plug sockets
Razor socket in Bathroom
Extraction hood over cooker (If no window in Kitchen)
Window in Bathroom (Not those crappy extraction fans)
Clothes dryer (And not a combo washer dryer, those things such eggs)
Water heater with a “Bath/Sink” setting, so you don’t need to heat all the water if it is just you in the place
Door on kitchen (To separate it from living area so all your stuff doesn’t smell of spaghetti bolognaise)
Sufficient visitor parking
Walking distance to shops (for milk and tea etc)
Broadband area
Sound insulation (Walk into another rooms while your friend is talking to rental agent in another room.)

Anything else?

#18

Put slugs slithering through gaps in closed windows on your list. My kids have no end of fun poking slugs that are unfortunate to enter the apartment.

Screw off the seal on the handles of the doors in the apartment. Should be 5 screws, but there are only two. This explains why the handles are falling off the doors. Honestly, these are things which you should never have to look for cause they are so fundamental. The bad building and hack jobs done in this country are criminal.

Two blokes in yellow hard hats were looking at the damp outside the window in one of the bedrooms in the apartment we rent. I wasn’t there but the wife said they were laughing at the botch job. We have to blast the room with heat regularly to stop the damp setting in on the inside. Worth saying again - the apartment is only 1.5 years old.

We pay 1575 per month for this apartment. When the s**t settles the LL will be lucky to get half that.

#19

Try getting a dehumidifier, it will be cheaper in the long run than over heating that room. I got one to aid with the clothes drying, works a treat.

#20

Two things in that article show what I’ve been saying for the last 2+ years:

  1. Apartments are going down the swanny
  2. People will always want houses

i.e. apartments are screwed but (family) houses will always be in demand.

In the absence of a ‘smug’ emoticon, let me buy everyone a drink instead!

8DD