Residents Association Looking for money

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Lilly2099

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We got a strongly worded leaflet from our local residents association yesterday looking for a prompt payment of €200 from everyone to contribute towards grasscutting for the year. The estate is not run by a management company so we dont pay any fees to agencies etc at it was taken charge by the council in 2007. I was annoyed by the tone of the letter which was sent as I found it to be almost threatning. There are about 120 houses in the estate and I have spoken to at 5 others neighbours from the road who have said they will not be paying the fee as they are not in a financial position to do so with many other bils to pay etc also based on principal. We have discussed the option that we ourselves are happy to maintain our own grass using our own lawnmowers. With residents associations my understanding in contributions are voluntary. Im not bothered about the association naming and shaming that we havent paid as they had advised they will do and I also do not care if it creates bad blood with the residents association just wanted to know peoples thought. Thanks.
 
200 is a lot. Thats a total of 24,000 if they got everyone to contribute. Why do they need so much money??

I have also found the resident association in my estate to be quite difficult, on one hand they ask for money but when you ask questions they get very defensive. I think residents associations must attract a certain type of person. But it is also a tricky one because they do give up their free time to arrange things for the improvement and upkeep of the estate.

You dont have to give the full 200, you could give what you can afford be that 10, 20 euros or whatever.
 
If the estate was taken in charge by the local Council surely it is their responsibility to cut the grass. We are just after having lovcal elections and these are the jobs which the Councillors should be ensuring are done.
If you give €200 to the Residents Assoc. for grass cutting who decides which firm to emply to cut the grass.
Is it a case of "a friend of a friend" i.e Is a backhander involved ?
Will three competitive quotes be obtained ?

The problem with Residents Assoc. is that not everyone wantsa to be involved which results in the local busybody taking charge
 
Why not get involved yourself in your Residents Association ?

Why do people always moan without getting involved. The OP merely was venting - did he even pose a question ?

Yes, its steep - too steep. But seek to get involved. Have some control of, and some input into your community.
 
€200 for grass cutting, total of 24k ( a year i assume ) i'll take that job.

I thought it was bad i was asked for €10 a month towards a so called neighbour watch which doesn't even seem to exist.

I dont get it since the council has taken over your estate., Were still waiting for that at the moment but the council refuse untill the builders have finished up and do what they promised/ legally oblidged to do. 3 years and still counting.

I would name and shame them not the other way around. That a lot of money for some really which really shouldn't cost anything. Our next door neighbour since he not working anymore has great delight in cutting people's front gardens and along the paths. Says it keeps him busy. Even when he was working he still did this for the few very close to him.
 
our contribution is €50 and hasn't changed in the last few years. Happy enough to pay it as the grass is cut very regularly. Involved in residents association myself and very few people refused to pay. Definitely think yours is too steep. Give a ring around to various landscaping companies to get some quotes and approach residents association with them to show that you can get it for cheaper.

Cutting the grass yourselves is all well in good but then you have to get rid of the cuttings - our landscaper takes this away included in the price.
 
aristotle25 said:
200 is a lot. Thats a total of 24,000 if they got everyone to contribute. Why do they need so much money??
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samanthajane said:
€200 for grass cutting, total of 24k ( a year i assume ) i'll take that job.
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Do either of you know the size of the OPs estate, do you know the amount of work involved in maintaining it? Or is it more likely that you looked at the total and said, "That's a lot of money, surely no-one would pay that for grass cutting?" There are large estates which require a lot of time and effort to maintain. For example, my estate is 16 acres and has extensive landscaping so it's not just grass-cutting. We pay c. €33k a year for the landscaping service.

Yorrick said:
If the estate was taken in charge by the local Council surely it is their responsibility to cut the grass.
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Some county councils such as Meath co co don't have a parks dept. and will refuse to landscape any estates that are taken in charge. In this case, it's up to the owners/residents to look after that expense themselves.
 
markpb said:
Do either of you know the size of the OPs estate, do you know the amount of work involved in maintaining it? Or is it more likely that you looked at the total and said, "That's a lot of money, surely no-one would pay that for grass cutting?" There are large estates which require a lot of time and effort to maintain. For example, my estate is 16 acres and has extensive landscaping so it's not just grass-cutting. We pay c. €33k a year for the landscaping service. .
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The OPs estate is 120 houses, my estate is 80 and the grass cutting contractors charge less than 3k to cut it every week.

So I am basing my opinion on what would be a reasonble comparison.
 
aristotle25 said:
The OPs estate is 120 houses, my estate is 80 and the grass cutting contractors charge less than 3k to cut it every week. So I am basing my opinion on what would be a reasonable comparison.
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That's my point, it's just a guess - the layout of the estates, the amount of grass areas, the type of work required to maintain any flower beds, etc, all contribute to the cost. Without knowing the OP's estate, it's almost impossible to calculate the cost.
 
mine has 180 houses. Don't know how much green area in acres but it is alot.
 
aristotle25 said:
The OPs estate is 120 houses, my estate is 80 and the grass cutting contractors charge less than 3k to cut it every week.

So I am basing my opinion on what would be a reasonble comparison.
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There can be vast differences in size depending on location and developer, and type of development.
 
markpb said:
That's my point, it's just a guess - the layout of the estates, the amount of grass areas, the type of work required to maintain any flower beds, etc, all contribute to the cost. Without knowing the OP's estate, it's almost impossible to calculate the cost.
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Ok, so you are just guessing yourself too? More than likely it is a fairly standard estate that doesn't have acres and acres of green areas, just a guess...
 
Do either of you know the size of the OPs estate, do you know the amount of work involved in maintaining it?
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In answer to this there is at most 3 medium sized green areas in the estate. Half of the estate is made up of townhouses with no greens or front gardens. There are no apts in the estate. The Council maintain paths & roads. In regards to getting involved, myself and my boyfriend and happy to cut the grass in our areas for nothing, there are a couple of other people would also be happy to do this rather than pay the residents association. The(residents association) appear to be a small group of people in my opinion with a slight attitude.
 
Lilly2099 said:
The(residents association) appear to be a small group of people in my opinion with a slight attitude.
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Its always the same! I would not pay the money especially since you know not everyone is going to pay! perhaps the grass cutting or raising money could be done in a more community spirit type way!!!
 
Jack2009 I completely agree regarding raising the money in some other way rather than the bully boy tactics and tone used in the letter we received! As i said its only 120 house so its a small enough estate and I's sure most people would be happy to raise the money with a fundraiser night or something. I would be happy even to do 'cleanup days' once a month where everyone becomes involved rather than handing out the cash.
 
I firmly believe that we are paying enough tax without paying for the upkeep of estates (which Council are obliged to). Why do people feel they should take over the Councils job. That's one of the problems with this country. We are constantly looking for monies for upkeep of hospitals, estates etc and freeing up Government funds to enable the TD's etc spend spend spend.

When the developers were in full swing and phasing the developments, the planners insisted that the Developers maintained the development until it was completely finished. The Developers didn't want the expense and hence the introduction of 'Management Companies' (run by the developers). These developments were supposed to be taken over by the County Councils upon completion of the entire development. The developers put a clause in the purchase documentation so that purchasers were obliged to contribute towards the upkeep. Now it practice for the Estate to take over the Management and not the Council.

I think that purchasing and maintaining one's own property and looking after our family is enough for any couple to deal with.
 
Hi Lilly2099,
I would object too, if I received a letter like that demanding money. It is a lot of money from each resident, especially on top of other rising bills.
Considering a few of your neighbours think the same as you, would you maybe talk to them about your idea of a fundraiser, or even the clean up day (which I think is a great idea). Perhaps you could drop leaflets into the houses, as I'm sure a lot of other residents are reluctant to pay the money but don't want to say. The residents association may then back down from their demands.
 
You see thats where the problems can start. Any pushback onto the residents associations are generally received with a "how dare they, we are spending our free time to improve the estate" and then the whole thing breaks down.
 
I think the OP, and her neighbours who are unhappy, should talk to someone on the res assoc committee and ask them why they are attempting collecting so much money.

Remember the res assoc is made up of other neighbours who presumably have the same demand on their pockets and their time as everyone else. They are almost certainly only trying to keep the estate well maintained. I would think it is highly unlikely they are trying to profit from their neighbours.

Is this the first year they have asked for money?

Did the OP attend a Res Assoc AGM/Meeting so she could find out what is going on?

The chances are they have based the amount demanded on the assumption that only a % of houses will contribute and are attempting to collect enough to pay whatever the grasscutters are charging.

The only way to know what is going on to to get involved and ask.

But it is much easier to complain from the sidelines.

It would be lovely if the councils did their jobs and used our tax to maintain our estates but until that happens residents have to organise it. If everyone pays up it should not cost more than 50/100 per house in general I would imagine, and the bigger the estate the lower the charge should be.
 
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