FAMILIES FACING EVICTION in Donegal say they feel like “pawns on a chessboard” over plans to remove them from their homes.
Up to 15 families have received notices to quit their rented homes at the Ballymacool housing estate in Letterkenny.
Locals have appealed for further talks with the landlord Twin Estates, a property firm with offices in Letterkenny and London, which says it wants to sell them off.
Almost all of the families facing eviction are Polish, with many living in the estate for the past five to ten years.
One tenant told The Journal that it’s a “big community because we all know each other”. However recent months spent fearing eviction have left them feeling despondent.
“There is no peace day by day, like it was before,” the man said.
Donegal County Council said it has to complete checks on the homes but “remains committed” to buying the properties. “We would hope that Twin Estates Ltd will allow tenants to remain in situ until the process concludes,” the council said in a statement.
Cathal Mac Fhloinn, Chair of the Ballymacool Residents Association, said the landlord appeared to be attempting to “put the squeeze” on Donegal County Council by using the threat of eviction to offload the homes to the local authority.
While Twin Estates has been planning to sell 20 of the homes in the Forest, at the rear of the estate, it is also seeking planning permission to build an additional 52 houses on adjacent land.
Phil Boyle, a business development manager for Twin Estates, defended the company’s actions, saying that it has been looking to use different government schemes to sell the homes to the local authority while keeping the tenants in place.
Some of these, such as the tenant-in-situ scheme, see councils step in and purchase a privately rented property where a landlord is looking to sell – but Boyle said he is concerned Donegal County Council is taking too long to carry out structural tests of the homes.
Increased use of the scheme by local authorities had been mooted by the government as a solution to avoid people having to leave their homes when it decided to lift the eviction ban early last year.
Speaking to The Journal, Boyle said that while it was the company’s right to do what it liked with its properties, the “last thing” it wants to do is to “throw somebody out” on the street.
“I don’t want to evict anybody. My god, we’re living in a humane society. But we are living in a democracy, a capitalistic kind of society where if you buy a house and decide to sell it, you have the right to sell it. I don’t think we’re living in Bolshevik Leninist Russia.”
He said the company came to the “hard decision” to sell the homes last September and added that every tenant received their required notice of termination giving six months notice.
Twin Estates purchased 25 houses in Ballymacool in 2020 through a receiver.
Built during the Celtic Tiger period, the estate, also known as Baile Mhic Cumhaill, has almost 350 homes in total and is one of the northwest’s largest housing estates.
A planning application has been submitted by Twin Estates seeking to build a further 52 homes.
Six months ago, Twin Estates began issuing termination letters to 20 families to give them notice of plans to use the houses for a different use. Five of these have either moved out or been able to buy the home to stay, with the remaining 15 families still in uncertain territory.
Many of them have appealed to be allowed to keep renting, pointing to sparse chances of finding new accommodation in the region where the housing crisis is acute.
A total of eight families are under consideration for the tenant-in-situ scheme via the county council and the other seven have been mooted for the Housing Agency.
The Housing Agency is a government body which operates the cost-rental-in-situ scheme. A family’s income dictates whether they will deal with their local council or the Housing Agency if facing eviction.
However, Mac Fhloinn said doubt has been cast over the Housing Agency’s involvement as it has recently contacted tenants to inform it is no longer examining the homes.
It has not provided a reason and told The Journal that it does not comment on individual applications when contacted for comment.
One man in the estate, who has been living in Ireland for more than 15 years, described suffering from “anxiety and fear” since his family received the letter informing him of the company’s plans to sell.
He told The Journal this his young children have been asking him “if we’re going to have to leave or we’re going to be homeless” as the eviction date nears.
“One day they said to me ‘Daddy, I don’t want to leave my room.’”
He said they have been “in limbo” since amid the lack of progress in discussions between Twin Estates and Donegal County Council.
Donegal County Council has insisted it has to follow due diligence in the negotiations over whether to buy the homes.
A dispute has also arisen over the testing of the homes for mica. While different sources have said that there has been no mica detected in the estate’s homes in the past, the council nonetheless wants to ensure this is the case before it commits to spending.
Boyle, for Twin Estates, said that the company has provided less-costly mica tests which use three samples from the concrete, but criticised the council for insisting on carrying out more intensive tests which require up to seven samples.
He added that many of the homes are being rented at about half the price for the current rate homes fetch on the rental market in Donegal.
Mac Fhloinn, the chair of the estate’s residents association said it was seriously unfair to “uproot” the families as proposed.
He said there is “very little choice” for tenants to move elsewhere due to the housing crisis in the country.
Mac Fhloinn said the current impasse has “stung” locals and caused great upset in the community.
“It’s an awful game to be playing with people.”
Independent Cllr Michael Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig said the issue has been of major concern and called on Twin Estates to desist from the current path.
Seamus Canning, a housing manager for Donegal County Council, said that the local authority had to examine each tenants’ situation to be accepted into the tenant-in-situ scheme.
He said the council has to carry out its own “due diligence” on the properties, including for defective concrete such as mica, before spending taxpayers’ money. It was not possible to guarantee a timeline on the acquisitions at present, Canning added.
He said that the council “will be speaking to Twin Estates in the coming days” when current examinations of the homes are complete.
“The council has its own acquisitions policy and as part of it we have to make sure we carry out our own due diligence for defective concrete block,” Canning said.
“We had a job of work to to assess everybody who presented with their notice of termination,” he said. “We’re getting to the latter stages of it now but I don’t think there’s any other way of speeding it up.”
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