Hallbopping
Full Member
I think the new suburbs are already built. Carrigtwohill and Ballincollig are essentially city suburbs now. Midleton will be eventually.
I agree we should be building higher in the city centre.
I think the new suburbs are already built. Carrigtwohill and Ballincollig are essentially city suburbs now. Midleton will be eventually.
Most of the cranes in the city are for residential developments which are all apartments so we are moving in that direction. I can't remember seeing so many cranes in the city for residential. However we need more parks, play areas for kids, and storage facilities in the apartment blocks.
www.independent.ie
New rental rules causing more stress to hard pressed tenants as landlords "weigh up their options".
Last Friday, tenants living in the Hazelwood estate in Bridgetown received notices of termination from their landlord, Patchflow Ltd, just two days before new rental laws came into effect.
The notices indicated that the landlord wishes to sell the houses.
A Hazelwood resident has provided doorbell video footage of the unidentified agent who handed out the notice.
In the recording, a man can be seen calling to the door of the tenant's house just after 12pm on Friday.
“Bad news,” he said to the tenant who answered.
“Have you heard about the new rental rules? Yeah, so we’re serving eviction notices, you know.”
On March 1, new rental laws came into effect that mean tenancies beginning after that date will have a minimum duration of six years. There are also more restrictive rules surrounding evictions.
The tenant who was served the eviction notice asked the agent in the video: “So, we’re getting kicked out then?”
“Maybe not,” the agent responded.
“It’s just the new rules are coming in on the first of March, right, and our view is they’re very unfavourable to the landlord, you know? We think it’s probably better just to sell up and get out, you know.
“Today we’re only giving ourselves the option that we can do that. We don’t know how it’s going to pan out over the next fortnight. Next week there will be loads of radio shit… shows and political debate, but we will make the final decision then in maybe about 10 days, you know? So that’s the way it’s going.”
It is not clear who the man in the video is, but it is not any of the directors associated with Patchflow Ltd.
Hazelwood tenants said a property agent had been managing the houses on behalf of the landlord.
When the Irish Independent contacted this agent, he said he did not wish to comment on the video, or disclose who the person in the footage is. He said the landlord company would be issuing a statement on Thursday regarding the eviction notices. Patchflow has been contacted for comment.
On Wednesday, Housing Minister James Browne said he does not believe what happened in his constituency is related to the new rental rules as there is “no economic benefit to doing so”.
Speaking in Dublin, he said: “I’ve seen lots of allegations from the opposition, saying that this is not a coincidence… none of them have pointed to a single thing in the new legislation that facilitates this or motivates this.”
He added that he could “not step into the mind of the landlord” or their motivation “to do it on that weekend”.
From this month, landlords are not allowed to re-set the rent to a higher rate after a no-fault eviction, when a landlord ends a tenancy even though the tenant hasn’t done anything wrong. This is to prevent landlords evicting a tenant so they can increase the rent.
Rent increases for most tenancies are capped in line with the rate of general inflation, or 2pc a year, whichever is lower.
However, the video footage of the agent appears to indicate that the eviction notices were a direct response to the changes.
Labour TD George Lawlor has accused the Government of trying “to dismiss concerns” about the impact of the rental law changes.
“What makes this even more damning is that this situation is unfolding here in Wexford, the Minister for Housing’s own backyard,” he said.
“We already know that 36 Notices of Termination have been issued by one landlord locally. Now we have direct evidence showing that landlords are linking their decision to sell with the Government’s policy changes.
“This is an absolute disgrace. The Government cannot continue to pretend this is not happening. The evidence is there and the human consequences are clear."
Over the years, Patchflow Ltd has been involved in disputes with tenants before the RTB over issues such as eviction notices and rent arrears.
Another company that previously acted as the landlord of houses in the estate, LHM Property Holdings, was also involved in cases before the RTB concerning tenants living in Hazelwood.
Some of the cases related to rent arrears, while in another the landlord was ordered to pay €1,000 damages to tenant Ann Marie Lamb for a breach of landlord obligations.
The directors of Patchflow Ltd, Martin Sinnott and Leonie Grant, are also directors of LHM.
Mr Sinnott is a property developer who has been involved in numerous high-profile builds across the model county.
Ms Grant, his wife, is a former Ireland hockey international, pharmacist and owner of Grants Pharmacy Group which has eight locations across Wexford, Wicklow and Carlow.
‘Bad news’ – footage shows agent who handed out eviction notices to 36 Wexford households saying new laws ‘very unfavourable to landlords’
An agent who handed out eviction notices to 36 households on behalf of a landlord company in Co Wexford told one tenant: “Bad news. Have you heard about the new rental rules? We’re serving eviction notices.”