Little choice but to agree despite uncertainty - owners

BACKGROUND:THE €25.5 MILLION settlement of claims arising out of the discovery of defective infill in their houses was reluctantly accepted by many homeowners yesterday.

Claimants said they had been unable to sell their properties, raise a mortgage or a top-up mortgage or even rent their properties since 2005. They said the choice now was to settle for the uncertainty that the trust fund would fix many of the problems or face continued legal actions with potentially massive costs.

While residents had reservations about the settlement, some claimed they were in a better position than the owners of an estimated 40,000 other properties in the wider Leinster area. In these cases, they said, similar structural problems had developed and builders “had simply gone, or had gone into liquidation”.

The use of pyrite – an infill material that expands when it comes into contact with moisture – was widely blamed for the damage to houses.

Some 670 homes in north Co Dublin are subject to the agreement endorsed by the court yesterday. Of 555 homes in three estates, 519 homeowners had subscribed to the proceedings and settlement. Some 152 homes in other developments in the north Dublin area will also be repaired under the agreement.

Expressing his reservations on the deal, homeowner Will Morgan said the community felt it had been held “over a barrel”. Originally an opponent of the settlement, he said he had signed up to it “late in the day, because I had run out of options”. He said the agreement covered legal fees – but if a homeowner was to proceed outside the agreement they would have to make themselves potentially liable for the costs of a lengthy legal battle in the superior courts.

Should the trust fund not be enough to fix all the homes, no other legal mechanism was available to homeowners: in agreeing to it, they signed away their rights to return to court, he said.

He said no information was provided to homeowners on whether enough money was being awarded to do the job.

Mr Morgan said it was understood by owners three years ago that the repair costs would be about €80,000 per house, but the trust fund would amount to just under €40,000.

Helen Manning, another late party to the agreement, said residents now wanted to “move on with our lives”.