How much do you pay for the upkeep of your estate??

Home Forums What’s New on Mumstown? How much do you pay for the upkeep of your estate??

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  • #11606
    chickpea
    Member

    Can some one please tell me how much they pay each year to these housing estate committees who call round for collections every summer…

    Where i live they are looking for 45 euro for the summer….theres about 190houses where i live so thats a wopping 8550 euro. Thats a lot for cutting the grass….i know they put on kids parties in the summer and have santa call to the houses at christmas…but i dont have kids so i shouldnt have to contribute to this…should i????

    My sister pays about 15 for the summer where she lives and i just want get some comparisons…especially for when they call round again and tell me i owe them money…surely these fees should be optional….

    what do you think??

    #112174
    scole1
    Member

    fees are optional, and it’s up to you whether you pay them….especially now, but i can see how the upkeep of the estate reflects how the estate is precieved

    our was 100e for the year now reduced to 80e last year i’d imagine will stay the same

    our estate is in a competition for anti litter and currently 2nd place in our category…that’s also down to the upkeep of the estate….

    and of course residents who help keep it nice

    #112175
    MaryE
    Member

    Ours is €50.

    I think €45 is very reasonable and fair play to those people who have to go around collecting it, not an easy job.

    The money goes to more then just cutting grass, its also for gardening, trimming trees, fixing fences, bin tag and much more.

    Im sure the sports day is for everyone, not just kids, its aim is to get to know your neighbours so there is good community spirit.

    Our estate doesnt do Sports day or Santa anymore and mores the pity.

    #112176
    lellykelly
    Member

    Ours is €100, a bigger estate I think about 320 houses. 🙂

    #112177
    Margo1
    Member

    ours is €200 a year – about 50 houses here did not realise we were being hit so hard!! Will have to have a word about it when the renewal comes around….

    #112179
    Fabienne
    Member

    There is one thing not mentioned, is the fee needs as well to cover for the houses who do not pay. Because if 100 houses and only 80 pay (for whatever reason), the lawn will still be done at 100%.
    So it’s 80 houses covering for 100.

    In my estate, nothing is done, this summer will be the first not done by the builder, and nothing is planned. We got letter saying it’s now up to the residents to take care of it.
    Because they are so many rented houses, it’s difficult to organise something fair, because not always to get money from the tenants and landlord not easy to contact. And noone wants to pay.
    So at the end nothing is done.
    I’m at the back of the estate and don’t have a green, so I wouldn’t be happy paying a huge amount of money, but willing to give a bit of my time if asked, bying a petrol lanwmower for the estate would be cheaper than getting throu a compagny (heard stories where compagny was paid to come every 2 weeks and only came every 3, and noone knew when they were meant to comeso difficult to check.
    Will see at the end of the summer what it looks like.

    Fabienne

    #112180
    scole1
    Member

    i know my aunt in meath and her hubby used to take turns is mowing the green near their house, as the council wouldn’t take care of it, so a group of residents did it, it ended up in being just them after awhile as people would make excuses as to why they couldn’t do it and my aunt an uncle were silly enough to offer each time, then one time they couldn’t do it and nobody offered to do it, and they decided to wait and see what happened, it was left to grow and then neighbours complained as to why it wasn’t being done, and asked why my aunt and uncle just didn’t do it…

    anyway after thinsg went sour, they now only cut the patch that’s directly outside their house, and now it shames the rest of the neighbours to do their own

    so there’s ups and downs to communal maintainance as the same people end up being the only ones to always do it and others sit back and rep the rewards of it being done for them…perhaps is easier for somone to be paid, but the usual will happen those not willing to pay….

    the thing that annoys me is people not picking up their dog poo in the estate which causes harm to children and let alone the cleaning of the mess of shoes, carpets etc, the other thing is having to replace trees after kids hang out of them, and when people are asked for the trees to be replaced and their kids break the new ones it’s a pain…

    #112185
    libby1
    Participant

    WE pay €100 for the upkeep in our estate – they are 4 big greens and they are looked after..
    I know on our row there are 13 houses and only 3 pay… i think its dreadful..

    #112186
    Taylor5
    Member

    Ours is €50.

    I think €45 is very reasonable and fair play to those people who have to go around collecting it, not an easy job.

    The money goes to more then just cutting grass, its also for gardening, trimming trees, fixing fences, bin tag and much more.

    Im sure the sports day is for everyone, not just kids, its aim is to get to know your neighbours so there is good community spirit.

    Our estate doesnt do Sports day or Santa anymore and mores the pity.

    MaryE i pay 60e! 😯 Why is my fee’s 10 more than yours? 🙄 Saying that it must be spilt into two groups as we had a Santa day in the Boyne Valley this year, i didnt go but dont think too many did take up the free santa.

    45e is very good, the cost of 1 cut of grass is SHOCKING and it will go up this year if the price of fuel keeps climbing

    #112190
    MaryE
    Member

    Taylor – there are two different residents association in our estate, our one has been going for years as my part of the estate is over 20 years old , where as the builders were still looking after the newer part of the estate until last year, so your association is only new.

    Im very proud of my estate, i think it looks great, we have even won awards and i know its because of the hard work done by the residents association. If your estate looks well it does affect your house price too and it makes you feel good about where you live.

    It is a thankless job that no one wants to do but if no one did it where would we be?

    I was on the association for about six years before i had the kids and know whats involved with little gratitude. I arranged Santa and the sports days and attended them even without children and enjoyed myself. I even went into labour with my son while helping at the sports day !! I blame the burger from the BBQ -lol

    To be honest its the same people who do the hard work year after year and its not really fair. They are tired and thats why they dont bother with the sports day or santa anymore.

    When my kids are a little older, i intend to re-join and plan to try to re-instate the sports day and / or santa, if funds allow.

    #112195
    Taylor5
    Member

    I know its always the same people who do the hard work… now theres a tip for going into labour 😆 😆 😆

    Im not on here but in my last estate i was, i remember one morning we arranged a clean up morning, bin bags etc… only 2 people helped us, i had just had a bad accident and my back was terrible, i was dong a clean up while others drove past…. it was my last time to put myself forward
    If everyone kept outside there house clean and done a little bit it all adds up

    #112199
    munchin
    Participant

    we pay 150euro there are only 50-60 houses but i’ve been told alot don’t pay. We have a bit of green right in front of our house that we have cut and as a result neighbours have cut before the association started. Regards the whole not having children and paying – as mentioned prevsiouly it’s all about the community spirit too – the only sports day we’ve attended was before we had the girls – haven’t been since as it’s fallen on days we’re not around.

    #112201
    MaryE
    Member

    Oh yeah, also meant to say, i met some great people while on the residents association. Before that i only knew the people in the few houses right beside me but now when i go out for a walk i nearly always meet someone or other to stop and chat too.

    Also, there is a few women who i now go out for a meal / coffee with ever month or so. Our estate is a little spread out and these ladies live a bit away from me, so i would never have had the opportunity to get to know them otherwise.

    I think it sometimes can be harder to get to know people if you have no children or if you work long hours (which i did), so i dont regret being on the association.

    At the end of the day, if you are not happy with what the residents association are doing, join them and then you can try to make a difference and you may make a few new friends along the way.

    #112204
    Financial Companion
    Participant

    Remember that some estates have to have a management company in place (it will depend on when they were built) and the annual fee for this will usually include the upkeep of green areas and suchlike as well as public liability insurance as the home owners are legally responsible for the common grounds in these situations (it would have been a clause in the purchase contract when the house was being bought!) Our annual management company fee is €127.50 and the residents association is €10 per year.

    #112263
    chickpea
    Member

    hey guys

    thanks for the replies…i just wasn’t sure what the average fees were.

    the first yr we paid €160 for the yr and i know something happened amongst the residents association and a lot of monies went missing so i have been weary about handing out money.

    also when my husband was made redundant a few yrs back and we couldnt afford the €1260.00 monthly mortgage payments and the association called looking for money we were at our wits end and we were told we had to pay or our name would be put on a list so other residents would see that we hadnt paid…

    i just feel very disheartened since then…im sorry but i think a lot of the time the people who are on these associations are the very ones who shouldnt be…..i do my bit and keep the outside of my property clean and tidy and the road out side too.

    i will be paying as i wouldnt have them saying anything about me.

    im self employed and work full time and i also have a part time job too…so i defo dont have any spare time but i think i do my bit…

    i do agree that some people dont look after their property and its a shame…but thats their choice…cest la vie…

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