Thirty-five apartment tenants in Cork forced to leave

Thirty-five tenants of a Cork city complex were given notice to quit their apartments after a receiver decided to put them up for sale.

Receiver Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton confirmed onn Tuesday the notices were served on January 21st on tenants at the Eden apartment complex in Blackrock on Cork's southside, with many of them having to be out of their apartments by this Friday.

Mr McAteer said 20 tenants have vacated their apartments to date. Grant Thornton said it plans to work with the remainder over the coming months.

“The receiver’s office has facilitated extensions for tenants which have required assistance and has also facilitated tenants seeking to vacate early in circumstances where they have found alternative accommodation,” it said.

The plight of the tenants was highlighted on the Today with Sean O'Rourke programme on RTÉ Radio One with one resident, Brazilian father of two Celso Lomas, saying the notice to quit had caused a lot of hardship for several families.

“I had to leave because I got a letter, I got it mid-to-late January and we were given the statutory eight weeks to leave the property,” Mr Lomas said. “There wasn’t much negotiation whatsoever – it was just a crude letter saying please leave by March 18th.

Infuriating

“I was searching for properties from the first date – I could find nothing within the South Ring Road and the river Lee,” said Mr Lomas. He said he and his wife were willing to pay up to €1,500 per month to rent in the area but could not find anything suitable and were moving to a house on Connaught Avenue, about 7km away.

Mr Lomas said the situation was particularly infuriating as Grant Thornton had sought a 25 per cent increase in rent to €1,250 a month last July. He said they met the increase but had not expected that they would be forced to leave their home so soon after a rent rise.

Grant Thornton confirmed Mr McAteer was appointed as a receiver by IRBC in November 2010 to deal with 127 units and some undeveloped land within the wider Eden Scheme. It was built by Pierse Contracting on lands formerly owned by the Ursuline nuns.

Mr McAteer said he had appointed Lisney Estate Agents as selling agents with some 35-40 properties expected to go on the market over the coming months as they become vacant while the company will review the sale of the remaining units later this year.