486 / 822
GAZETTE
SEPTEMBER 1988
as a storey. The Act applies to all
such buildings whe t her residential
apartments, office blocks, hotels
etc. The Act will also apply to any
multi storey buildings in the course
of construction or to be built in the
future.
The Act w i ll require Local
Authorities to list all buildings of
five storeys or more built since the
relevant date. They must establish
the ownership, notify the owners
and require t hem to submit a
Ce r t i f i c a te f r om a c h a r t e r ed
engineer (with a specified type of
experience) stating whether the
building is constructed fully or
partly in any of the following forms:
— precast conc r e te floors and
masonry walls;
— precast concrete floors and
precast concrete columns;
— precast conc r e te floors and
precast concrete panels.
If a chartered engineer's Certificate
is furnished confirming that the
building is not constructed in any
of the forms mentioned above, then
there is no need for any further
action by the Owner. If however, a
building is built in one of the above
forms then the building must be
assessed by a chartered engineer.
Buildings wh i ch are identified as
being in one or other of these
c a t ego r i es w i ll require to be
as ses sed in r espect of t he ir
robustness when compared to a
number of codes of bu i l d i ng
practice. Alternatively, assess-
ments are to be made of the
possible risk of accidental damage
to the buildings (principally from
gas explosion) and to remove the
cause of the risk where possible.
The obligation to furnish the
Certificate does not arise until the
owner is served w i th a notice by
the Local Authority requiring the
Certificate to be furnished.
The A c t se ts out v a r i o us
confirmations which the Certificate
should contain. In layman's terms
the main point intended to be
cove r ed by t he Ce r t i f i c a te is
confirmation that the building has
been constructed in such a way so
as to ensure that in the event of an
accident the resulting damage is
not disproportionate to its cause.
The definition of " o w n e r " in the
Act is very wide in that it includes
a Lessee of a building or any part
of the building who occupies the
building or part of it under a
repairing Lease. Most commercial
lettings are on a full repairing basis.
Also included in the definition is
any person, who either alone or
w i t h others, manages any part of
a building.
The penalty under the Act for
failing to furnish a Certificate is a
fine of up to £1,000. The penalties
for furnishing a false or misleading
Certificate range from a fine of up
to £1,000 and/or imprisonment for
up to twelve months or a fine of up
to £10,000 and/or a term of im-
prisonment for up to three years,
depend i ng on the nature and
seriousness of the offence.
Regulations have to be made for
the Act to operate and these are
presently being prepared by the
Department of the Environment.
The main implications of this Act
are extremely serious and we see
t hem as follows:
1. Impasse w i t h chartered
engineers
The Association of Consulting
Engineers has not been able to
agree a f o rm of Certificate for
use in connection w i th this
proposed legislation and has
advised their members not to
co-operate unless a f o rm of
certificate which is satisfactory
to t hem can be agreed. No
other class of professionals are
permitted to give Certificates.
Unless the engineers break
ranks in order to accommodate
their clients the legislation will
be unworkable. Both engineers
and architects we have spoken
to are severely critical of the
Act and the assumptions upon
wh i ch it is based.
2. Properties wi ll become
unsaleable
Solicitors are already advising
clients not to buy apartments
in blocks of five stories until
this has been resolved. Diffi-
culties might also arise in
connection w i th borrowing on
the security of such properties.
Anyone trying to dispose of the
entire or part of a multi-storey
building of five stories and
upwards will undoubtedly be
confronted by a prospective
purchaser making a preliminary
enquiry as to whe t her the Act
has been complied w i th or not.
3. Substantial expense for
apartment owners
The normal system for the sale
of flats adopted by developers
in Ireland is to transfer the
c ommon areas to a manage-
ment company, con t r ol of
wh i ch is handed over to the
a p a r t me nt o w n e rs in t he
development. In this way the
people most concerned have
control of their own destiny.
These management companies
(if the problems w i th engineers
can be resolved) are now going
to be faced w i th substantial
expense wh i ch for many would
represent a large capital burden.
It is hard to see that such
owners would have any redress
against the original developers.
4. d i f f i cu l t i es in getting
lessees to undertake
obligations to repair
A person or company who has
taken an ordinary rack rent
lease of all or part of an office
building to wh i ch the Bill
applies wh i ch makes him or it
responsible for repairs may find
t h ems e l v es in t he s ame
position as apartment owners.
Solicitors are advising clients
taking leases in any building
wh i ch may be affected by the
provisions of the Act to think
again.
•
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ISLE OF MAN
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