The residents of a housing estate in Castlebar have been left in limbo following the withdrawal of the services of an agent who had been acting on behalf of the management company for the upkeep and maintenance of the estate.
The Dunbeg estate on the Newport Road is a mix of houses and an apartment block of 12 apartments. The upkeep of the public areas of the estate and the common areas of the apartment block were taken care of by an agent employed by the management company for the estate, who was paid by the developer until the latter went into liquidation. The agent has withdrawn their services and questions are hanging over who is liable for the upkeep of the estate and any public liability issues that could arise.
Cllr Harry Barrett raised the issue at Monday nights meeting of Castlebar Town Council, after all members had been contacted by the residents about the issue and he proposed that the residents come and address the council at one of their next meetings. Cllr Therese Ruane asked that legal advice be sought by the council on what can be done, which was backed up by Cllr Michael Kilcoyne. Cllr Ruane also told the meeting that the people living in the apartments were having insurance issues and residents couldn’t get insurance for their apartments because there was no management company and they have major concerns over public liability in the common areas.
Town engineer, Sean Higgins told the meeting he had spoken to the residents association and he was hopeful that something could be brought forward on this. Town manager, Seamus Granahan said that there are two real issues, there are houses and there are apartments and the apartment block will need a management company to look after the common areas. If the issue of the houses and the legal questions over ownership and the managment company were sorted out, the estate itself was very near to the condition to be taken over by the council, but the legal issues had to be looked into first.
