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Service Charges Dispute On Main Street

Thursday, 8 July 2010

TWO property owners on Main Street in Tullamore are refusing to pay service charges in protest at the state of the street.
Edenderry retailer and developer Patrick Carroll and Kilbeggan businessman Danny McGee have both told the Tribune of their disappointment at how the street has developed since they invested in property there a number of years ago.
Matters took a bizarre twist last Thursday when what appeared to be a new retail outlet opened up in a unit previously owned by bankrupt property developer and former Fianna Fail councillor Ger Killally.
Mr Killally and a senior official of the Bank of Ireland were seen that morning on the street and a garda was also on the scene.
Patrick Carroll, owner of Carrolls Menswear, which is located two doors down from the former Killally unit, has told the Tribune that he opened the 'factory outlet shop' in an effort to flush out the real owners of the neighbouring property.
The Tribune understands that the Bank of Ireland now controls the units in question, one of which had been used by Ger Killally as a base for his auctioneering business.
Mr Killally contacted the Tribune last Thursday and said that Mr Carroll was 'squatting' in the premises.
Mr Carroll confirmed this was the case but explained he had done so to draw attention to the condition of the vacant unit and the state of the street in general.
He said the condition of the unit formerly owned by Ger Killally had deteriorated after it was vacated.
'The first we realized that something was amiss was about four months ago when we found that the interior walls had turned black and the water started to flow out on the street over the doorstop,' said Mr Carroll.
He said there was 'human waste' inside the unit which was accessible because a door was left open.
Attempts to contact the owner of the unit were unsuccessful and Mr Carroll said he also had his solicitor contact the street management company's solicitor.
By the middle of last month he decided to clean it up himself and 'squat' in it rather than spend time 'chasing' whoever was responsible for it.
He then opened his own 'shop' in the unit with the aim of giving the proceeds to 'a charity' but closed and vacated it the same day following communication from the Bank of Ireland.
'Carrolls Menswear who have operated from the street since the street opened try to keep its properties maintained to the best of our ability and along with other retailers on the street are continually searching for ways to improve the attractiveness of the street,' said Mr Carroll.
Mr Carroll also said he had decided not to pay any further service charges 'until a court order is made against me' but would lodge money with the court and await its verdict.
He cited the 'subsidence' of the street directly outside his premises as one of the main reasons for his refusal to pay the service charges to the management company.
Meanwhile Mr McGee, the owner of two ground-floor commercial units on Main Street, one situated beside the former Killally building and another across the street, has said he is not paying, and has never paid, any service charges either.
He also revealed that the management company had cut the water supply of one of his tenants earlier this year because of outstanding bills.
Like Mr Carroll, he said he invested in the street on the understanding that it would be an 'upmarket' development and he understood when he was purchasing his first property there that a pedestrian bridge linking Main Street's Millennium Square with the Bridge Centre would be one of the 'main features'.
The bridge has never been built and the street has never been taken over by Tullamore Town Council.
Mr McGee said as far back as 2002 he met representatives of the local authority on many occasions in relation to the condition of the street.
He said there were also problems with foul sewers and drainage and one of his units, the location of the former Elle ladieswear shop, now closed, was flooded in July, 2008, a problem which has persisted.
'Only last week I was doing a viewing with a potential tenant and when I opened the front door and let up a shutter I was met with a flood of water the same as July 2008,' said Mr McGee.
In his unit on the other side of the street, where a business continues to trade, the water supply was cut off three times in March.
Mr McGee said this action had been taken following a warning from Galway Property Management, the agent for the management company, who had written to him about the non-payment of fees.
Mr McGee said he has been told by Tullamore Town Council that a third party would have no right to interfere with the water supply.
Sean O'Connor of Galway Property Management told the Tribune this week that the management company, Watermill Lane Management Company, who they represent, had decided at its AGM last December that services could be withdrawn from any unit where service charges had not been paid.
Mr O'Connor said 13 property owners attended the AGM of the management company and in the course of a three-hour meeting, problems with the street were discussed.
He said that the road is 'obviously a major issue' and it would cost an estimated €10,000 to repair it.
Mr O'Connor also said that Galway Property Management had 'no control whatsoever' over the vacant unit which was formerly owned by Ger Killally and of which the Bank of Ireland are now the confirmed owners.
Mr O'Connor said a substantial amount of money was outstanding in management charges since Galway Property Management became the agent and most property owners were now paying their charges.
'The vast majority of people are paying and the vast majority have paid up since we took it over,' said Mr O'Connor.
The directors of Watermill Lane Management Company are Tom McNamara and Patrick Sweeney, the original developers of the street, and Finbarr McCarrick, who came on board as a director after the AGM.

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