No fire resistance or retardant built in the building… I believe if a fire started in one apartment it would spread throughout the whole development instantly

Most defects in relation to fire spread are covered by later building work – paneling, plaster work etc. To retrospectively check for defects one would have to carry out ‘non-superficial’ inspection techniques – drilling into walls, taking down paneling and checking roof spaces and other ‘void’ areas.

Just to give you a little insight, I was involved in a development (ps I am or was not the developer) however the building was built with fire regs in mind however it did not receive it’s fire cert. My job was to work with designers to layout the internal part of the building using the space the best. It was a commercial building.

When we had finished we had to send in the drawings to the fire officer for approval. He came back with the problems which we fixed on new drawings and resubmitted. We were then given our fire cert. The property was never visited by the fire officer and everything was done on drawings and email.

We could have done what we wanted to the layout after the cert was provided only for we were honest people and the would be an off chance of a surprise visit by the fire chief however my understanding is that they don’t visit private buildings only shops and factories and so on.

The person that signs off is the developer/builder themselves it’s ridiculous the whole process to be honest.

Excellent idea. There must be plenty of idle housing that could be made available even for the duration of the court proceedings.

Yeh. Coalport Developments have vacant dwellings in Dundalk, Portarlington, Walkinst…

Let’s bail these poor unfortunate people out. It’s horrendous the situation they are in. Families, children, loved ones… where can I donate some money to help?

@Slummy Mummy. Compliance with Building Regulations for Structure, Fire, Sound etc. was confirmed by a process of ‘self certification’ by developers whereby they employed an ensured professional to certify that the structure complied before sale – he who pays the piper calls the tune kinda thing!
These ‘certificates of compliance’ were passed to the purchasers solicitors to be included among the ‘usual requisitions’ to facilitate the purchase. These certificates also formed part of the process of issuing a mortgage.

This system was put in place by the last government with the Approval of The Law Society to ‘fast-track’ the purchase of housing during the boom. The chickens are coming home to roost!

Tip to ‘distressed mortgage holders’: In a lot of cases proper mortgage documentation was not compiled due to the practice of ‘undertakings’ by solicitors in the rush to get sales closed. Your mortgage may not be legally valid and arrears judgments unenforceable. Worth looking into!

This gets worse and worse!! And some of our NAMA’d developers are now signing new contracts abroad, in Nigeria and the Middle East, even though they told us a few years ago they were “broke”!!! :(

Integrity of the builder??? A lot of people are in deep trouble so!!! :(

Dear Mr. Banker shove your demands where the sun don’t shine!
You colluded in a corrupt scheme to suck the public into fast tracked loans to buy property from developers who in turn had borrowed from your institution for the development in the first place. You pushed the money onto me so that the money once passed to the builder went back to repay you. You sucked me into a vicious cycle where you now threaten me with eviction for my outstanding loan while your chum the builder sits snugly in NAMA and the taxpayer bails you out.

Some NAMA’d “broke” developers are now signing contracts to build airports and universities in the Middle East
and Nigeria. How can this be?? What does “broke” mean to these guys??? :(

Pretty sure the article says they did freeze their assets

Yep. And much better fed than they were in the 80s… http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2011/1018/1224305995438.html?cmpid=morning-digest&utm_source=morning-digest&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digests

That is a nonsence comment . ??? FF were in power and passing round and accepting little brown envelopes !

One of the developers is an old comrade of IRA (retd,) Presidential canditate.
not like the shinners to get involved or make statement on this type of scandal

Oh right. Every day is a school day as they say . Which of the developer was this ?

It depended on the builder Chris.
If your builder was registered with the Construction Industry Federation he could avail of the ‘self certification process’. If your builder was not registered the costumer for the house had their own survey/report commissioned.
It usual for multi-dwelling buildings – flats etc. to have been built by registered builders.

Your right Garreth.
Some careful solicitors advised purchasers to employ an independent professional to check over before closing purchase but the independent reports were often overlooked in the rush to get up the overnight Q’s to get a foot on the property ladder. And the madness continued…

That’s all very well , but these guys are used to selling houses , and ordinary ‘joes’ buy one or two homes in a life time… The advice should have been given by their solicitors as to surveys etc and the lenders too should have been better equipped to know what surveys were needed. It is a disgraceful state of affairs . For such a small nation there is an awful lot of ”corruption” . Does anyone put themselves in other peoples shoes anymore ??? If you do not do your job /work to the best of your ability or you do not make sure that the job you do is the best , then it is like a house of cards . It all comes tumbling down. There are consequences, I hope any one who worked on this ‘developement’ have clear consciences as to the quality of their independent jobs….. ?

Caveat emptor Eileen. It was always that way I’m afraid – just got worse during the boom.
A lot of people would not listen, quick sales, quick purchases were the order of the day and, in a lot of cases where independent assessment of property was advised it was dismissed as pedantic nonsense.
I compiled commissioned reports where serious structural defects came to light and people still bought having been enlightened to this. It was unbelievable! People just did not want to know!

Thanks John . I just feel so sad that this can go on … I am not a naieve person but I just feel so bad that people in their rush to ‘own’ or sell property ignored good advice and developers obviously knew they would get away with these ‘cutbacks’… Do they sleep well at night or were they prepared for so much collateral damages?

Blaming the victims is wrong

fitszpatrick, I am certainly not blaming the victims of this disaster for the state of their homes or the situation they find themselves in . It is unbelievable that these homes have no fire safety cert or that the fire retardant stuff is not in place. how many houses do ordinary people buy in a life time on average ??? How many homes do developers sell in the course of their business??? we know exactly who is at fault and it is not the victims. By the same token I question the people who built ,physically built these apartments, did they do their job to the Best of their ability ? or did they adopt an attitude of ”out of sight out of mind”?? Any way I wish them , the residents, well. The judge will be watching out for them I hope too.