What's the story with property management? Dodgy developers leaving apartment complexes unfinished and new owners with a massive headache is not a new phenomenon but it could become a thing of the past if proposals put forward by the National Consumer Association (NCA) earlier this month are adopted.

There are now more than half a million apartment dwellers in the State being looked after by 4,500 property management companies, yet there are no regulations to protect residents' rights. This legal vacuum means it is almost impossible to force a developer to complete satisfactorily an apartment within a reasonable timeframe. The NCA believes that in the absence of legislation, apartment dwellers - primarily young people - are left open to serious exploitation. Anyone buying into an apartment complex automatically becomes a member of its management company, which has an ongoing obligation to ensure the maintenance of the property. A management agent is usually employed to run the complex.

Earlier this month, the NCA published a report on management fees and service charges levied on apartment owners and called for the activities of property management companies to be brought under the remit of proposed new legislation to control estate agencies and auctioneers.

Among the report's recommendations are the establishment of a professional association of residential management agents and the introduction of a legal requirement for developers to attend to the management company's snag list, as prepared by an independent architect or surveyor.

PriceWatch spoke to three apartment owners in Dublin last week, and while they had differing opinions on the merits of the management companies who look after their homes, they all complained that the developers continued to wield unnecessary and unwanted influence and had left their complexes unfinished.

Sarah Sharkey bought an apartment on Dublin's northside last year and so far has had no problems with her management company. "I have heard some horror stories and compared to those, our management company is excellent," she says. While there are still outstanding snags, the building's security and car park are probably the biggest issues her company has had to deal with on an ongoing basis. "After that, proper maintenance and care of the building is the biggest concern."

Mary Saunders owns an apartment in Chapelizod and while she has had a generally positive experience there are some issues which, she says, need to be addressed. "There was talk at the last meeting about the tenants taking over the management of the complex," she says "But it seems that the developers have held on to some of the apartments so they still have a vested interest . . . As such, our power is limited."

This reluctance on the part of developers to cede control of the complex to the owners is not unusual and addressing it is one of the key aims of the NCA report. It believes that if control is not passed to owners within three months of units being sold, planning authorities should be able to take legal action.

When asked how much people should be paying for the upkeep of their apartment, the NCA is reluctant to answer and says it is not what you pay but what you get for the money that is important. Both Saunders and Sharkey pay around €1,300 a year and both believe this is good value.

"It is a lot but it covers a pump that ensures there is no flooding in the car park, electric gates, gardening, bins and there is security on site every day. In this context, it's not too bad," Saunders says.

For an owner-driven management company to succeed there must be a great level of voluntary participation and action. Saunders lives in a complex that is made up of eight or nine blocks of nine townhouses. In her block the residents are mostly owner-occupiers.

"We talk to each other, and look out for each other. The other blocks have less of a sense of community but that may be because the ratio of owners to renters is much different." She believes that a greater sense of community has to be fostered. "The feeling that owner-occupiers have towards their home is very different to that of renters and I'm not sure how that can be overcome."

Deirdre Gunning is another owner-occupier who bought an apartment in the Blanchardstown area two years ago. Her experiences have not been so positive.

"When you share a complex with 39 other apartments, no one person is going to volunteer to take responsibility," she says. Her complex appointed a residents' committee and she was hopeful that they would get things done as they seemed enthusiastic. The committee even set up a website for the residents to share information but it hasn't worked out as she had hoped and she says the website is rarely updated.

"I am going to volunteer to go on the committee the next time around, if we ever have another management company meeting." She says they are paying a lot to a management agent - the costs have spiralled from €1,200 in the first year to €1,800 in the second. "It should be making a greater effort to keep people informed of news and updates. And an occasional newsletter or two might give us the proof we need that it is doing its money's worth."

Like Sharkey, Gunning has experienced problems with the snag list. Some 18 months after she took possession of the property it has been only partially completed. She is not sure "if the developer has fully handed the company over to us yet". She believes there should be greater transparency for all residents for all communications relating to our property and says she would like to be able to go to an independent body for advice on what to do in such circumstances.

It is just this information deficit that the NCA is trying to address.

Speaking at the launch of the report Ann Fitzgerald, chairwoman of the NCA and director of consumer affairs said it was commissioned "because consumers, primarily young people, are very vulnerable when they are unsure of their rights and don't know how the management company and management agent system work".

Speaking to PriceWatch last week she said much greater transparency was needed in the market and said service charges need to be clearly explained to all buyers well ahead of the closing date of a sale, when it is often too late to back out. She also believes that people buying into a complex should be given a five-year schedule of fees, as a guideline at the very least, that they will be expected to pay.

"This is a new way of living and until now people have lacked information," she says, adding that she is pushing for a speedier implantation of legislation to protect apartment dwellers. At present little is expected to be done at a political level until the end of next year at the earliest. "My job is to try and push it up the political agenda. We haven't just published the report and walked away from it," Fitzgerald adds.

To get a copy of the NCA's information booklet, Property Management Companies and You, tel: 1890-432432 or see www.consumerconnect.ie.