Residents of an apartment complex in west Dublin are appealing to the Government to implement a redress scheme, after it emerged earlier this year that the building is defective.
Owners of apartments at The Crescent, in Park West, Clondalkin, were told in August that they had to foot a bill of €68,500 per apartment to pay for urgent remediation work, after a number of fire safety issues were discovered in the building.
Apartment owners later refused to agree to a payment plan, with some instead joining a wider campaign calling for a government redress scheme.
Sam and Odette Doran, who have owned a one-bedroom apartment in The Crescent since 2003, said they were shocked to receive the news of the defects on August 16th, via a Zoom call with the building's Ordinary Management Company.
"Essentially, when we moved in there in 2005, we moved into a defective building, unbeknown to ourselves,” Odette told BreakingNews.ie.
Major issues discovered in the building, and were first raised by Keenan Property Management, the building's management company. Defects included a lack of fire stopping material around doors, pipes and in apartment walls.
'Fire safety deficiencies'
Residents at The Crescent, developed by Harcourt Developments and built by the now-defunct P Elliott builders between 2003 and 2005, received a letter from Dublin Fire Brigade on October 28th stating that “fire safety deficiencies” had been identified in the building, and that remediation work should be “commenced immediately”.
It also emerged that the building was issued with a fire safety certificate before construction was completed in 2005.
In an email to BreakingNews.ie, Harcourt Development said that they were “surprised and disappointed” to hear of the issues at The Crescent, but stated they bore no responsibility for the “alleged” defects.
They also stated that the complex was built to the highest specification by P Elliott. “For the avoidance of any doubt, the building was certified as fully compliant with building and fire regulations at the time.”
Apartment owners have joined a campaign calling for the Government to introduce a 100 per cent redress scheme to pay for remediation work.
Responding to queries from BreakingNews.ie, the Department of Housing stated that the Programme for Government "sets out a commitment to examine defects in housing", and "assist owners of latent defects properties by identifying options for those impacted by defects, to access low-cost, long-term finance".
Mr O'Brien established a working group to examine defects in housing, the statement noted earlier in December, and confirmed that the minister intends to bring proposals to Cabinet on a scheme to assist affected homeowners.
The minister previously stated that he intended to bring proposals on potential supports before Christmas. These proposals to have not yet been put forward.
The statement also noted that given the scale of cost and lengthy potential time-frame in identifying defective complexes and houses, "resources and work will therefore need to be prioritised".
"In this regard, it would not be appropriate for those in charge of affected buildings to delay the undertaking of any remediation work that is considered necessary from a life safety point of view."
