1.— (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

“Act of 1963” means the Companies Act 1963;

“Act of 1982” means the Companies (Amendment) Act 1982;

“childcare facility” means a building or structure which is in use for the purposes of providing—

(a) a pre-school service, or

(b) a pre-school service and a day care service or other service to cater for children other than pre-school children,

and in this definition “pre-school child” and “pre-school service” have the meanings respectively assigned to them by section 49 of the Child Care Act 1991;

“commercial unit” means a unit in a mixed use multi-unit development which is not a residential unit and is intended for commercial use;

“common areas” means all those parts of a multi-unit development designated, or which it is intended to designate, as common areas and including where relevant all structural parts of a building and shall include in particular—

(a) the external walls, foundations and roofs and internal load bearing walls;

(b) the entrance halls, landings, lifts, lift shafts, staircases and passages;

(c) the access roads, footpaths, kerbs, paved, planted and landscaped areas, and boundary walls;

(d) architectural and water features;

(e) such other areas which are from time to time provided for common use and enjoyment by the owners of the units, their servants, agents, tenants and licensees;

(f) all ducts and conduits, other than such ducts and conduits within and serving only one unit in the development;

(g) cisterns, tanks, sewers, drains, pipes, wires, central heating boilers, other than such items within and serving only one unit in the development;

“developer” means the person who carries out or arranges for the development or construction of a multi-unit development;

“development stage” means the period which begins when the first unit to be made available for sale is so made available and ends after all construction works and ancillary works (including works on the common areas), for the multi-unit development have been completed in accordance with—

(a) all relevant planning permissions under the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2009,

(b) the requirements arising under the Building Control Acts 1990 and 2007, and

(c) in a case where section 3 applies, the contract referred to in section 3(1)(d);

“member” means member of an owners’ management company;

“Minister” means Minister for Justice and Law Reform;

“mixed use multi-unit development” means a multi-unit development of which a commercial unit (other than a childcare facility) forms part of the development;

“multi-unit development” means a development being land on which there stands erected a building or buildings comprising a unit or units and that—

(a) as respects such units it is intended that amenities, facilities and services are to be shared, and

(b) subject to section 2(1), the development contains not less than 5 residential units;

“owners’ management company” means, subject to subsection (3), a company established for the purposes of becoming the owner of the common areas of a multi-unit development and the management, maintenance and repair of such areas and which is a company registered under the Companies Acts;

“relevant parts” means, in relation to a unit, those parts of the common areas of a multi-unit development necessary for the enjoyment of quiet and peaceful occupation of such unit;

“residential unit” means a unit in a multi-unit development which is—

(a) designed for—

(i) use and occupation as a house, apartment, flat or other dwelling, and

(ii) has self-contained facilities;

or

(b) designed and used as a childcare facility and such facility is not intended to primarily share amenities, services and facilities with commercial units in the development;

“reversion” means the residue of ownership (if any) which continues in the transferor after the grant of any leasehold estate in land;

“unit owner” means a person other than the owners’ management company who holds the highest freehold or leasehold estate or interest in respect of a unit in a multi-unit development.

(2) In this Act a unit shall not be treated as having self-contained facilities unless the unit has bathroom facilities and cooking facilities within it for the exclusive use of the occupants of the unit concerned.

(3) In this Act a reference to an owners’ management company shall be construed, other than in the case of an owners’ management company to which section 3 or section 14 applies, as including a reference to an industrial and provident society and to a partnership or unincorporated body or group of persons owning the common areas of a multi-unit development, and in the case where such ownership is held by a partnership or unincorporated body or group of persons any of the persons in such partnership, body or group shall be entitled to enforce the covenants and house rules concerned.

(4) In this Act, save where the context otherwise requires, a reference to a transfer of ownership shall, subject to sections 3(7) and 4(2), be construed as a reference to a lease or a deed of transfer, conveyance or assignment.

(5) For the purposes of this Act a member of an owners’ management company shall be regarded—

(a) as being present at a meeting of members where he or she has validly appointed a proxy to attend and that proxy has attended the meeting,

(b) as having voted at a meeting of members where the member has validly appointed a proxy to vote at the meeting and the proxy (but not the member) has voted at the meeting,

where the appointment of proxies by members is permitted under the articles of association or other document which regulates the operation of the owners’ management company concerned.

(6) Subject to any order made by a court pursuant to section 24, nothing in this Act relating to—

(a) the obligation to transfer the ownership of the common areas of a multi-unit development or a relevant part of such common areas to the owners’ management company concerned,

(b) the obligation to establish an owners’ management company as respects that development, or

(c) the structure or conduct of the affairs of an owners’ management company,

shall be construed as preventing compliance with that obligation by the establishment of different owners’ management companies in respect of different parts of the multi-unit development or by the transfer to such companies of the ownership of such parts of the development.