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ALMOST 4,500 people have signed a petition calling for the Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy, to stop the St Helen’s Court eviction in Dun Laoghaire.
It emerged last week that 17 tenants in the south Dublin apartment block had been served with notices to vacate by two investment firms – Apollo Global Management or Deutsche Bank – which own the properties.
The companies – so-called vulture funds – have told the tenants that they need to vacate the apartments so the complex can be refurbished. The tenants will have the opportunity to re-rent the apartments if they go back on the rental market.
However, the tenants believe they will be charged higher rents when they move back in.
Currently, landlords can only increase rents by 4% in Dublin – but this rule does not apply if significant refurbishment has been carried out.
Writing to minister
Local TD for the area Richard Boyd Barrett is advocating for the residents. He told TheJournal.ie today he has received “a perfunctory acknowledgement but no substantial response” to a letter he sent to Minister Murphy.
Boyd Barrett said this is “extremely disappointing”.
“A lot of people realise it could be them,” added Boyd Barrett of the support for the petition.
A meeting was held on Saturday where it was decided that all of the residents are going to write to the minister to appeal for him to intervene in the situation.
If the residents don’t receive a favourable response, it is understood they may consider a protest.
They are also urging Minister Murphy to communicate with the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) on the issue.
They are going to appeal the situation to the RTB and want the minister to instruct the RTB that tenancy protection legislation “should not be abused”, said Boyd Barrett.
They want any loopholes in such legislation to be closed down.
“If there’s ambiguity in the law then the minister has an obligation to clarify what is the intent of the law,” he said.
Boyd Barrett said there should be a serious investigation into whether the works on the apartment block are necessary. He said that six of the units in the complex not owned by the two investment companies have not been asked by their landlords to leave over necessary works.
The residents have been trying to contact the investment companies to discuss the issue.
Alternative accommodation
The pending eviction has put a lot of pressure on residents, said Boyd Barrett, particularly families who have children in local schools.
“All of the residents are out there to find alternative accommodation if it can be found but they just can’t find anything in the Dun Laoghaire area,” he claimed. “You have families who are uncertain about whether their kids can go to their schools in the autumn.”
He said this is “obviously worrying for many of the people there”.
Boyd Barrett said that the residents want the minister to step in and intervene because it “isn’t just about the 17 families and households in St Helen’s Court, but potentially huge numbers of tenants that are in the same boat”.
“Excessive rent increases and evictions for spurious reasons will not be tolerated – that is the message that has to come from the minister,” said Boyd Barrett.
He also suggested that the government could purchase the apartments and rent them to the tenants under an affordable rental scheme.
“The government have talked a lot about it,” he said of such a scheme. “Here would be an opportunity to kick off an affordable rental scheme by stepping in, buying these places from the vulture funds and renting them back to tenants.”
“It would be entirely reasonable for the government to come in and offer some sort of price which would still allow these guys [the investment funds] to make a bit of money but which wouldn’t involve the eviction of tenants or increase of rents to unaffordable levels,” he said.
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If there’s no suggestion that the new incinerator has anything to do with the infestation of flies why mention it…….
Also businesses have had to close? Seriously, dramatic much?
@Ian Breathnach: exactly! However The sewage treatment plant could be a possible source.
@Bob Lynch: How dare you suggest that something well established in the area be the cause of this when clearly there is a controversial ‘monstrosity’ in Poolbeg that can be blamed.
@Ian Breathnach:live in ringsend and no businesses have closed. Further no flies.
Because that’s a conclusion a lot of readers would come to .
@Ian Breathnach: You can’t serve food with so many flies, both were catering businesses that ad to close. I’ve gone through 3 cans of pest spray since Monday in our house , the sticky fly paper is covered with them and despite all the windows and doors being closed , more seem to be getting in.
@Sueann Moore: catering business in Ringsend? Theres 8 pubs, 1 spar, Lars shop. 1 butcher. Ladbrookes, tesco, pharmacy. 2 chinese take aways, a chipper, 2 barber, estate agent, hair dresser and a few places near the toll bridge. If there in your house its probably eggs hatching inside and living of fruit.
How did the flies know there was a bathing ban on Sandymount Beach.
Could it be all the dog poo the locals don’t bother cleaning up?
I was wondering why there were so few flies around this year and now I know why. They’re all in Dublin.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall at the next local residents meeting.
Sorry just acting the maggot.
@marcus connolly: buzz off with your puns
@Rónán O’Suilleabháin: no flies on you!
@marcus connolly: live there and theres no issue
Chris is talking shite
@Joseph Blocks: could be the ointment!!!
If had lots of flies in my house, the last person I would call would be the local counsellor.
I would just buy fly killer. Lots of snowflakes out there.
@Dave Sherman: Both Tescos ,both hardware shops and local shops all sold out in Ringsend & Sandymount all week. Finding the source of infestation is a rational step. Councillors have more access to info
@Dave Sherman: why use fly killer? Why not use your bare hands ye snowflake. I do it with my eyes closed. On a serious note though stop using that phrase, i see it in just about every online “debate” and its tiresome.
Bastarsd are everywhere
@Graham Bolton: All flies are love babies,they don’t marry. They won’t let me use bast***s.
I think there has been an increase everywhere I’m not in Dublin and never had flies coming into house or being everywhere in garden had a few bumblebees but not flies black and green ones everywhere can’t eat outside, BBQ, or have pool out for kids over them
@Heather White: that’s nature for ya
Global warming: every 0.25 % increase in average temperature encourages 5x more fly larvae to hatch.
By 2020 the whole place will be covered in them unless we can recruit more bats, birds and frogs with long sticky tongues to inhabit our suburbs.
Think the flies looking for the cheap tents in D4
Where is Rinsgend???
@Noel Madden:
It’s near where 3,000 homes are now planned for development…at The Irish Glass Blue Bottle site made infamous during Celtic Tiger era on amount borrowed for its acquisition!
@Rory J Leonard: No there just normal flies, not. Blue bottles
@Noel Madden: co perineum
@phil: You win.
Leo should declare a no Fly zone over ringsend.
Definitely Aliens
cavanta?
It’s probably to do with the waste incinerator
@Benny Dowling: sure the heat, being beside the liffey or the sewage treatment plant have nothing to do with it.
Something big is dead and the flies are coming from the corpse. Had about 500 flies in my parents house when there was a dead rat under the floor. So so many flies
@Veronica: is it Kay-Tee from Fair Citeeee? Did they find hur yeh’?
Those Flygrants might be just off the ferry, or a floater seeking a better way of life
No rent crisis in ringsend.
Dont live in ringsend so i couldnt give a flying fu(k. Thats it. I’ll grab my jacket!
I live in Dublin 3. There was loads of flies in our apartment. One day my wife said in jest “there’s so many, we’ll have to start charging them rent” I laughed initially but then I thought why don’t I. I put it to them, however, at Dublins current rent prices the flies up and left so problem solved.
It’s the incinerator….
Very poor journalism, the paragraph about the incinerator makes absolutely sweet F A sense, you might as well say the Aviva stadium is relatively close
It’s the dog shite on pathways!!
Don’t ever kill a spider
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