My Department has no function in relation to the operation of property management companies. The Multi Unit Developments Act 2011, which falls under the remit of my colleague the Minister for Justice and Equality, regulates the management and operation of such companies. Section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 requires that where a development for which permission is granted under the planning Acts includes the construction of two or more houses and the provision of new roads, open spaces, car parks, sewers, water mains or service connections, and the development has been completed to the satisfaction of the planning authority in accordance with the planning permission and any conditions to which the development is subject, the authority shall, where requested by the developer or the majority of house owners, initiate the procedures to take the development in charge.
Section 180 was amended in the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2010 to provide that a planning authority may take in charge an unfinished estate, at the request of the owners of the housing units, at any time after the expiration of the planning permission, in situations where enforcement actions have commenced or where the planning authority consider that enforcement action will not result in the satisfactory completion of the estate by the developer. Planning authorities have also been empowered to take in charge part of an estate or some, but not all, of the facilities in an estate.
