The public has been urged to take part in a survey on housing defects relating to fire safety, structural safety and water ingress in apartments and duplexes.
The experiences are sought by an independent working group, established by Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien last February.
The group is examining the extent of defects in purpose-built apartments and duplexes that were constructed between 1991 and 2013.
The survey information will then be used to inform the minister on the nature and scale of the issues, the difficulties that arise following the discovery of the defects and the costs and levies associated with the remediation of the defects.
Views are sought from people regardless of whether such defects in those properties are currently known, unknown or where no such defects have arisen.
The online questionnaire, which is designed for homeowners, landlords, directors of owners’ management companies and property management agents, will be open until March 14th.
Urging participation, Mr O’Brien said understanding the experiences of those directly affected “will help us understand the scale of the issue”.
“We need to understand the full extent of legacy problems so that we can address them going forward,” he said.
"I encourage all those who own or manage purpose-built apartments or duplex buildings constructed in Ireland between 1991 and 2013, to complete these surveys – whether the property in question has defects or not, or if the presence of defects is not known."
The Construction Defects Alliance campaign group has also urged apartment owner’s and owners’ management companies to take part.
"Around 170,000 apartments were built during the Celtic Tiger era and it's estimated that at least 100,000 of them are affected by fire safety defects, leaky balconies and defective roofs due to shoddy building and ineffective building control," the alliance's spokesman Pat Montague said.
“These defects are costly to fix – averaging €15,000 to €20,000 for fire safety issues – leading to huge hikes in insurance premiums and these costs come on top of mortgage payments and service charges.”
He added: “However, there is no hard information on the true extent of the problem and the working group on defective homes is looking for this information so it can shape its recommendations to Government.”
The alliance, which currently has members in over 130 apartment developments around the country, has campaigned for a “fair and just” scheme to be put in place to help homeowners remediate their homes.
The working group's survey can be accessed here.
