Residents made to fund defence fees for their own potential claims

An estate-management company is charging residents a legal fee of €25 in order to defend any potential court cases taken against them by those same residents. Last month a resident from Castlecurragh Estate in Mulhuddart won a small claims case against Castlecurragh Property Management Company on the basis that she had paid her management fee and the company was failing to supply some of the services. She was entitled to a partial refund of her fee. The management company are now appealing the decision to the Circuit Court. In order to fund the appeal of this case and to defend against another case a resident is taking against the company they decided at a recent AGM to levy a legal fee on all residents.

Socialist Party councillor, and resident in Castlecurragh, Ruth Coppinger says the legal fee charge is "scandalous, but not surprising".

The management company was set up in 2001 at the request of Fingal County Council (FCC) in order to manage the estate of private and social and affordable housing which was built by FCC in conjunction with Shannon Homes Ltd. FCC has 104 votes in the company represented by the 105 social-housing units they own in the estate. The rest of the shares are owned by residents.

When residents first moved into the Castlecurragh Estate they were charged a management fee of €900 for a two-year period. Residents say they were under the impression that after the two years the management company would cease maintaining the estate and management would return to FCC. After the two-year period was up residents then refused to pay the management fee. In 2005, just 400 out of 720 units paid their fee. As a result of a lack of money, the management company was then forced to withdraw their services in early 2005. Some maintenance has been ongoing since then but on a "sporadic" basis according to one resident.

In June of this year under pressure from local residents, FCC agreed that they would maintain the roads and footpaths, clean the roads, cut the grass and maintain the lighting.

Emma Browne