EXPERTS EXPLAIN:Ask our experts for advice on your property problems

Where can I complain about my estate agent?

Q I am currently living abroad and renting my house in Ireland, so I put a lot of trust in an estate agent to handle things for me. The agent went ahead and got a signed agreement from a new tenant without first discussing terms and conditions with me – eg, didn’t consult me about setting up a bank standing order or negotiate the monthly payment date or give me notice of when he was handing over keys to the tenant.

Now my tenant has been made redundant and is about to leave the property: I have not been paid rent due, and there are unpaid utility bills outstanding. I expected a professional service from this property consultant: is there somewhere I can go to complain about the estate agent?

A Did you enter into a contract with the estate agent? It may be that the agent acted under implied authority in light of the custom and practice in the agent’s profession.

Whether or not the agent had express or implied authority to act as described above, legally, you may be stopped from making a claim against the agent, at this stage, if you and the tenant have been performing the letting agreement over a number of months.

If you have been accepting the tenant’s rent for some months, it would be difficult to argue now that you are unhappy with the arrangement. Was a deposit paid? I assume that the tenancy was properly registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board PRTB (prtb.ie) in which case you may have recourse against the tenant through its dispute resolution procedure.

Notwithstanding the above, if you have grounds to complain that the estate agent acted outside his terms of engagement, you can submit a complaint to the industry representative bodies, the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers, the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, which have a complaints and redress system or to the Property Services Regulatory Authority (npsra.ie).

The latter authority is expected to be established on a statutory basis in early 2012 and will investigate complaints against auctioneers, estate agents and property management agents.

The website has a useful register of most licensed auctioneers and house agents and it also helpfully identifies those agents who have subscribed to the authority’s code of practice. There is a link to its complaint form. The code also acts as a guideline to prospective clients, like you, as to how your engagement of such services should be documented and executed.

** Julie Fitzgerald is an associate solicitor with WhitneyMoore, whitneymoore.ie

Can I build over a sewer?

Q There’s a sewer pipe running under my back garden. Can I build over it?

AThe first thing you need to establish is if it is a public or private sewer line. The local authority will not allow you to build within a distance of 3m (10ft) of a public sewer. They require a way leave over this area to ensure access to maintain or replace the sewer line at a later date.

However, if the sewer is a private sewer it is possible to build over it provided that certain precautions are taken as follows:

A CCTV survey will be required to determine the condition and actual location of the sewer;

Crossings must be supported using pre-cast concrete lintels over the pipe, minimum distance 150mm above top of pipe;

Foundations must be taken down 150mm below the sewer invert level. No structures (footings, walls, etc) running parallel to the line of the sewer will be allowed within 500mm of the sewer (in plan);

The pipe will have to be surrounded in compacted pea gravel while the gravel between the top of the pipe and lintel must be uncompacted.

** Pat McGovern is a chartered building surveyor and chairman of the building surveying professional group of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, scsi.ie

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Send your queries to propertyquestions@irishtimes.com or to Property Questions, The Irish Times, 24-28 Tara Street, Dublin 2. This column is a readers’ service. Advice given is general and individual advice should always be sought