Company in receivership owes years of unpaid management fees. How does OMC collect?

L_earner

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The developers of our apartment block appear to have retained two units which they rent out. I say appear because the units have never shown up in the Land Registry records, but they (Land Registry) warned that there could be another explanation other than the developers simply keeping them. The OMC asked the developers if they are the true owners several times over the years, but they ignored all our enquiries. We even asked the tenants to help us. They pay monthly rent in cash to a person who identifies herself by her first name only. It is an unusual name, and is also the first name of one of the two directors.
As we have no address or name for the owners we attach invoices and statements to the apartment doors every year. We copy these to the developers' address, stating each time that we believe them to be the owners, and they never acknowledged receipt of these, so they never denied that they were the owners.
Now the developers are in receivership. We sent letters to the receivers alerting them about the unpaid fees, with details of dates and amounts, and added the caveat that while we have no proof that the developers own the units, the indications point to them.
The receivers ignored our letters too.
Do the receivers have any obligation to communicate with us?
Are the receivers legally bound to pay the overdue management fees to us from the proceeds of sale of the two apartments, regardless who owned them?
If the receivers are legally bound, have we done enough by alerting them about the unpaid management fees owed to us? This figure stands at over €12,000.
 
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The arrears should come out in the wash as part of this;


Some other thoughts;
-have you had an engineer/surveyor search the registry of deeds to see if the property ownership can be traced?
-does anything show on the RTB search the register? presume not if tenants are paying cash at the door
-a longshot but do the electricity meters have the MPRN shown on them?
 
It's possible that the tenancy is registered even if the rent is cash-in-hand, but probably not. You can report a suspected unregistered tenancy to the RTB.

Report an unregistered tenancy​

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Likewise it's possible but unlikely that tax is being paid. You can report it to Revenue here:

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If you want to do this I would not involve the OMC.
 
If someone owed me tens of thousands of Euro, I wouldn’t report them to Revenue. A nasty outcome on that front just gives them less money to pay me back.
 
As we have no address or name for the owners

Have the committee done enough here to get on top if this?

Since even when the Apt is sold, afaik, you can only apply to have the last 6 years of arrears paid for. Replacing a faulty door lock to the main entrance would ideally cause some disruption as these replacement keys, like car park entrance fobs etc, should be given out to paid up members only.
 
Thank you all for your replies, which include some really helpful options. I will let you know how we get on.
 
The receiver can’t sell those apartments without clearing the service charges.
Is there some general rule that an apartment cannot be sold with services charges being up to date.

While any prospective purchasers solicitor would raise the matter a purchaser for cash from a receiver would hardly be too concerned.

My understanding is that unpaid management charges become a charge against the title, if the original contract for sale specifies that. Unlikely in the current circumstances.
 
My understanding is that management company consent is needed to sell the property. And then if there are outstanding service charges, the vendor’s solicitor has to give an undertaking to clear the debt.

I think the 6 year thing is a red herring too.
 
Because I’m aware of a case where over 10 years worth of management fees were collected on the sale of an apartment by a receiver.
Did that case go to court or was it settled? I’m also aware of 10+ years of fees being collected during a sale, but they were settled out of court. Just wondering if it went to court maybe the statute of limitations would be treated more seriously by the judge?
 
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