APARTMENT OWNERS AT a Celtic Tiger-era development in Dublin have voted “overwhelmingly” against an “extreme” resolution that would have seen each owner pay over €68,000 to repair fire safety defects.

In 2020, Dublin Fire Brigade became aware of issues at the Crescent Apartment Building in Park West development, mainly relating to an absence of fire-stopping material between apartments, on external walls and in the roof of the large apartment building.

These deficiencies could allow a fire to spread rapidly through the development, and owners were informed the cost of remediation works will be €15.9 million.

A proposal that would have seen each owner pay a levy of €68,500 over five years was put to an extraordinary general meeting on Tuesday night, but over 80% of those present are said to have voted against it.

Under this proposal, put forth by the Directors of the Owners’ Management Company (OMC), a €15,000 instalment would have been paid by each owner before the end of the year.

There are 232 owners and while each owner is a member of the OMC, only some of them are directors.

One owner who isn’t on the board, “an accidental landlord”, spoke to The Journal after the EGM.

“I’m barely breaking even each month,” he said, “I can’t even save money and I don’t have access to credit.”

He said around 120 members were on the zoom call via which the EGM was held and 82% of those present voted against the proposal.

“While there may be some interim measures required, this resolution was at one end of an extreme.”

‘Ramifications’

The owner explained to The Journal that there are “two main ramifications” from this week’s ‘no’ vote.

“Firstly, we may lose insurance which is up at the end of the year. The insurance company may hike the excess or the premium, or they may pull cover all together.

So the real risk is if there is a fire in the interim period when there is no insurance, we lose our homes and there’s no protection there.

A fire officer was said to be mentioned as the other “main ramification”.

Common areas like the car park and basement were highlighted as areas in need of remediation.

The owner told The Journal: “We’re told that the fire officer will and could do a number of things. They could close the carpark and access to the basement area.

“They could also request that their fire wardens are on the premises 24 hours a day. There are nine core blocks so that would be quite expensive.

“The fire officer could also request that the wardens are in place until the works are completed to a level where they are not needed anymore.”

In the worst-case scenario, the fire officer could insist that everyone moves out of the complex, the person said.

Government Plan

The owner says there is a lot of anxiety and concern, and a reluctance to pay out large sums until the government publishes a plan on how it will help owners of Celtic Tiger-era apartments and duplexes with construction defects.

According to the report, the cost of remedial works ranges from €1.56 to €2.5 billion and as many as 100,000 homes are estimated to be impacted.

Responding to a recent Priority Question from Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin, Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien said he “intends to bring options for financial assistance and for how this scheme would operate this year”.

When asked by Deputy Ó Broin if “retrospective measures could be made available early next year”, the Housing Minister replied that “all options will be looked at”.

“Nobody knows what the details of that will be,” said the owner to The Journal.

“We don’t know whether there will be any retrospective redress or compensation. So if we pay out now and the scheme only comes in in 12 months’ time, then we paid out €15-€30,000 and don’t know if we can get that back.

“Details of that might come in December, so it would be mad to sign up to something with so little certainty.

“I’m not voting in favour of a scheme that requires me to pay a significant amount of money before I see what the government is proposing.”

When asked about the fire safety concerns, the owner said there is a “significant risk”.

However, he said that while there is a “threat to the building, there is no significant threat to life”.

He added that landlords aren’t getting messages from tenants worried about their safety.

The Journal has approached the OMC for comment.