March 2021

Has Your Housing Estate Been Completed?

When we look to purchase a house we visually check that it is suitably built and that it fulfills our needs for space, facilities, location, and whether it is within budget. We don't tend to survey the entire estate other than how it looks, sounds, notice the flow of traffic, and perhaps obtain a few comments from potential future neighbours. Whether you move into a new build, where the rest of the estate is being built, or into an existing estate, the home survey we pay for is only really to assure the mortgage lender that the house is worth their risk in lending you the money. Asking local people whether the estate has been finished is not the same as asking if the Planning Permission process has been fully completed?

Why would you need to know?

When the housing estate is being built any faults are normally rectified by the Main Contractor and tradesmen onsite but what happens to those estates years or even decades later? Was the work actually finished onsite or is there more still to do? More to the point, who will fit the bill if things start to unravel and fail such as street lighting, potholes, collapsed sewers, or blocked drains?

Whether you moved into your home as the very first resident or if you are new to your street you should know whether the developer has actually finished building the entire estate to the relevant standards.

When a Developer completes what they set out to achieve in their planning permission its long-term maintenance is normally transferred to the Local Council Departments via a process called 'Taking In Charge' (TIC). Essentially it is the final statement to say that your estate has been completed as described and to the relevant standards.

Is My Estate TIC?

Telltale signs that your estate might not have been Taken In Charge are missing white road line markings, roadside street signage such as 'Give Way', and even 'Road Names'. However, the Council can take some elements in charge without undergoing the entire process out of concerns for public safety such as street lighting. Resident Groups may have erected their own street name signs since they fulfil an obvious need if they've been missing for years.

Unfortunately, there is no online database available for you to view but you can find out by contacting the Planning Dept via Meath County Council or simply get in touch with your Estate's Residents Group.

There are only a few housing estate maps available online for those estates which have undertaken the process since 2014, these are published in the Notice of Declaration of Public Roads. In the Johnstown neighbourhood we found a few such as Athlumney Abbey, Riverview, Athlumney Wood, Athlumney Hall but the list is not comprehensive.

Note: Completing the TIC process is not mandatory and it can be initiated at any time after the Developer has left the site. Some Estates may find that not being TIC may offer them independence benefits at the cost of remaining self-sufficient.

Homeowner's Safety Net

To protect homeowners from facing astronomical bills to rectify faults like collapsed sewers, potholes, blocked drains, and even overgrown trees, the Developer pays a bond to the Council before they commence any building works. This money forms the safety net to ensure that if a developer fails to complete the estate as per their planning permission, and to the relevant standards, the Council has access to money to directly rectify significant faults.

TIC Initiated by Developer

Upon Estate completion the Developer will naturally want their bond money returned. Often worth hundreds of thousands of euros they can initiate the TIC process. If they haven't undertaken the process it begs the question as to why not, and what's not been completed?

TIC Initiated by Residents

This is normally initiated by residents after faults in the public areas are discovered. The cost to rectify items not owned directly by residents can be significant and is unnecessary if there is money held by the Council to cover these. Completing the TIC process generally takes several months and therefore waiting for problems to arise before initiating the process is perhaps unwise.

Anyone can make the request for the Council to take 'ownership' of the ongoing maintenance of a private housing estate's public spaces. There is no fee but it will require a group of active residents to use the form, available online, and obtain the signatures of 50% of the house owners PLUS one to obtain the majority consensus.

Once submitted a comprehensive and lengthy Council survey process begins to check that everything in the original planning permission has been completed to the agreed building standards. If faults are discovered the Council may give the Developer the opportunity to rectify them or set a schedule to complete the works using the Developers bond.

Many local estates are still classed as being private estates years after they were built.

Avoiding Confusion

To clear up misconceptions about the process Meath PPN invited representatives from Estate Groups in February to attend a zoom presentation by Meath County Council Planning Dept. The following are some of the notes we took:

Permission

The TIC process does not add anything more to the estate beyond that which was granted to the Developer in the Planning Permission. It merely ensures that the estate is built as promised, there is no option to add or remove anything.

Mapping

The Developer's bond is only used for completing the estate's public area and so it is vitally important to ensure that when the process is undertaken that the 'Public - Private' boundary line map is correct.

This avoids issues in any future Council plans such was the case when the once proposed pedestrian links between estates ran through some private gardens.
If your home is on a boundary line it's worth checking your house deeds to see where the red line of your land actually lies. Some homeowners will be surprised to discover that their garden fence is not where it should be. It might come as great news if you want to extend your garden but perhaps not so great if there's a mature tree there which becomes your responsibility to maintain.
These individual maps don't highlight the presence of any gaps between the estates and who is responsible for their maintenance therefore ensure they join without gaps.

Grass Lawns

Although the Council takes on the long-term maintenance of an estate there is one contentious caveat concerning green spaces within 'once private' housing estates. TIC doesn't include the maintenance of public space vegetation other than trees. Therefore if you're estate has enormous grass lawns the residents must collectively maintain them forever. Typically this is achieved by residents fundraising amongst themselves to pay a contractor or by cutting it themselves. The limited financial Amenity & Community grants available can only be challenged by our elected Councillors so you may wish to note who they are if you want them increased.