Reprieve for some Eden residents as no extra sales this year

Residents of a Cork complex who were expecting to be evicted from their homes have now been told their tenancies will not be terminated this year.

In 2010, IBRC appointed Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton Receiver for 127 units at the Eden complex in Blackrock, and adjoining undeveloped land the company says can be developed into 100 more units.

The Today with Sean O’Rourke show on RTÉ Radio 1 last week highlighted how the receiver wrote to the residents of 35 of the apartments in January informing them that they were to vacate their apartments by last Friday.

In a statement to RTÉ’s Brian O’Connell, Grant Thornton said it intends to bring the 35 units to market this year, and to use the proceeds of the sale to build units on the undeveloped land.

However, it said it would not issue any further terminations of tenancy to residents for the rest of 2016.

“The receiver has also written to tenants in the remaining units to confirm that their tenancy is not affected and that no other notices will be issued to any tenants in 2016,” it said.

“The current intention is that the vast majority of the remaining units under receivership will be sold with tenancies in place.

“Communications were issued to 35 tenants notifying them of intention to terminate tenancy on the 21 January 2016 with various expiry dates provided to occupiers in accordance with tenancy rights.

“To date the tenants in 20 units have vacated and we will continue to work with the tenants in the remaining units over the coming months.”

However some of the 35 residents who have had their tenancy terminated have expressed their anger that the receivers have given an extension to the other apartments in its control.

“We got no letter telling us, ‘stay calm, your sale is going to happen at a certain time of the year’. We were not told that we could stay in our property, we were just told that ‘you must leave’,” said Celso Lemos.

“So it’s already a change from what we had. However it’s too late for us. I have moved out, along with another 20 families, and there are still a few families in the area waiting to see whether they will get an extension.”