Hi,
What are the risks of buying an apt where the management company is in financial difficulty? The management company in question is Assured Property Management - a quick search on google will reveal they are in trouble:
irishtimes.com/newspaper/fin … 07630.html
labour.ie/press/listing/1349 … 91309.html
I’ve been to view the apt in question, and my initial reaction was that the general up keep of communal area was poor, lift was broken, etc. The apt block contains circa 20 apts and current management fees are circa 2,100. The EA has told me the seller has not paid management fees for 2/3 years.
What are the risks here? I’m guessing the biggest risk is that residents get new management company, and replacement company charges higher management fees? Anything else?
Thanks.
The biggest risk is having no sinking fund / communal insurance. Lesser risks are things like fire systems not being looked after correctly, bin collections not being organised, no parking management (or electric gates being fixed). Actually, name any unique feature of apartment living in a managed development and that’s a risk.
who will force the noisy tenant in the apartment upstairs or downstairs or next door to shut up if thee is no management company or agent in place?
Or remove the brothel that springs up in a few months time.
You need to walk away from this opportunity.
my solicitor told me before she wouldn’t act for me in such a situation. You won’t be able to sell. walk away
hang on, just reread the OP; is the day to day management company (contracted to clean etc. ) in trouble? or the Owners Company - that owns the common areas?
The management co is easily replaced - not sure why it hasn’t been; you should be asking who the directors of the owners company are any why they haven’t resolved the issue.
re. the seller not paying - it’s possibly a can of worms but again you solicitor won’t complete unless those fees are paid (and assuming the management company is resolved)
There is a difference between the managing agent and the property management company.
The property management company owns the common area of the development and employs the managing agent.
Ah, so in the case it’s the managing agent that has gone tits up. In that case, sinking fund should be safe but there’s still potential issues with block insurance being unpaid, ESB bills unpaid, refuse collection unpaid, landscaping unpaid.
When in doubt, walk away!
if the directors haven’t the cop on to sort out the managing agent I’d be skeptical about the sinking fund. Managing Agent business isn’t rocket science - I wonder if their income is hit due to the blocks they manage not paying their fee…
but yeah
Thanks for the replies - it’s actually the management agent that’s gone bust (sorry if that wasn’t clear). I agree it’s a concern that the management company hasn’t replaced them - it seems like mainly landlords that own apts in the complex, so maybe they are not in any immediate rush to replace. I will obviously try to find out more info before signing anything!