Sir, – It is with dismay that I read about the threat of legal action against apartment owners if they don't proceed immediately with the remedial action as recommended by the Dublin Fire Brigade (Home News, March 16th). These owners bought their apartments in good faith, expecting all building regulations to have been complied with. Where were the relevant authorities at the time of completion of the build?
As outrageous as it seems, fire compliance can be certified on the basis of proposed building plans, without an actual post-build inspection to verify that the building had indeed been built as per the approved plans. Clearly most of the responsibility for this failure lies with the original builders, professional service providers and the authorities who provided certification, not the eventual owners.
Will the Government be returning the taxes paid on these apartments as is usually the case when returning defective products?
It seems the local authorities need a well-staffed post-build inspection team to ensure builders follow through on all the compliance matters of their submitted plans, similar to other countries, to ensure buyers don’t fall into the same trap over and over again.
We have to move beyond the concept of buyer beware when buying our homes. – Yours, etc,
VINCENT HIBBERT,
Inchicore,
Dublin 8.