Donegal County Council has confirmed that it is continuing to liaise with the owner of a Letterkenny housing estate where tenants are facing eviction with regards to the testing of concrete blocks.
Residents of The Forest, Ballymacool were served with eviction notices in October 2023. However, Twin Estates Ltd has confirmed no householder will face immediate eviction.
Efforts are ongoing with a view of the Council purchases the properties under the tenant in situ scheme and the cost rental tenant in situ scheme while other tenants have been offered the right of first refusal to purchase the property when it is being sold.
The local authority has now procured a Structural Engineer to arrange for surveys to be carried out.
Councillor Jimmy Kavanagh says the local authority is keen to purchase the properties:
Donegal County Council Response:
In early October 2023 the Housing Office was contacted by a number of residents of The Forest, Ballymacool, who had received a Notice of Termination from their landlord, with a termination date of 12/4/2024.
A representative of the residents contacted the Housing Office on 11/10/23 requesting that the Council meet with the residents and contact details for all 19 concerned tenants were provided.
Housing Office staff immediately began to contact all the residents affected, and we provided applications for Social Housing Support to those residents who had not already submitted an application. A Housing assessment was carried out on all the applications returned to determine the best approach for each household. The assessments were completed in early December 2023.
Current Status of Applications –
6 applications from residents were above the threshold or Social Housing Support and were referred to the Housing Agency for consideration under the Cost Rental Tenant in Situ Scheme. 8 residents were eligible for Social Housing Support with Donegal County Council and were approved. These applicants were then considered for the Tenant in Situ Scheme. Of the remaining 5 residents, 3 were over the threshold for the CRTiS. In such cases tenants have the right of first refusal to purchase the property when it is being sold. The final 2 residents didn’t respond to our efforts to contact them.
Donegal County Council – 8 applications for Tenant in Situ Scheme –
Donegal County Council has procured the services of a Structural Engineer to arrange for surveys to be carried out on these properties by a local Engineering firm and the Preliminary Reports were received on 27th February 2024.
The Housing Office has been in ongoing contact with Twin Estates Ltd in relation to the Tenant in Situ process and to highlight the Council’s Acquisition Policy requiring testing for defective concrete block where the acquisition of properties is being considered. The next stage in the process is the testing of the concrete blocks and we are liaising with Twin Estates Ltd to finalise these arrangements.
