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A NUMBER OF TENANTS in an apartment complex in Limerick have been given eviction notices after the properties were bought by a vulture fund.
The situation at the Strand apartment complex in Limerick City appears to be similar to what happened in Tyrrelstown in 2016.
Last year, the tenants of the west Dublin estate faced eviction after they received letters from a vulture fund telling them they would have to vacate their homes once their leases ran out.
The Limerick Leader reported yesterday that the company formerly in charge of the Limerick apartments, Sova Properties Ltd, had its loans transferred to the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).
In July 2016, Nama sold the loans to Oaktree Capital Management.
Speaking to Brian O’Connell from RTE’s Sean O’Rourke programme today, one tenant who has lived in her apartment for over nine years, said she was very upset when she received a letter to vacate her home.
As someone who worked in the market, describing herself as “a capitalist”, she said she understood that people are entitled to make investments.
‘Everybody wants to make a few bob’
“I understand that everybody wants to make a few bob, but you can’t do it at the expense of people’s homes.”
A statement from Sova Properties said “debt secured against these properties was sold by NAMA to Oak Tree which has directed that Sova sell the properties to repay the debts. Sova remains in ongoing communication with tenants. Unless there are specific circumstances to the contrary, Oak Tree’s view is that value is maximised by sale with vacant possession”.
Meanwhile, Nama said in a statement:
Nama’s policy is that, where possible, debtors and receivers should avoid seeking vacant possession of residential property in advance of loans sales in order to minimise disruption to people living in these homes.
Nama requires that every acquirer of its loans complies with their legal requirements to respect tenant rights in accordance with their lease terms.
Resistance
Anti-Austerity Alliance councillor, Cian Prenderville organised a meeting last night for tenants who had received eviction notices. Like Tyrelstown, he said these evictions would be resisted.
Prenderville told TheJournal.ie, the evictions will not only have a huge impact on those who have to leave their homes, but they will drive up rent prices in the area.
“There are only a handful of properties in Limerick City. If we suddenly have a large number of tenants looking for somewhere to live, rents are going to skyrocket.”
Prenderville claims 30 tenants have already been forced out, with some having to move back in with their parents due to the lack of suitable rental accommodation.
He said the situation “highlights the ridiculousness of the law in Ireland” and called for changes to legislation to be made that would allow for sales of apartment complexes with tenants unaffected.
Housing Minister Simon Coveney told Sean O’Rourke he agreed with such a move, stating:
For me it is totally unacceptable that when one institutional investor sells to another institutional investor or one professional landlord is selling an apartment complex to another professional landlord that people’s tenancies shouldn’t be protected in those circumstances.
Coveney said it is “the norm” in many European countries that sales of this kind do not affect the tenant.
“It is not the same in the UK, but it is the norm in many countries and should be the norm here… We have taken advice from the attorney general to make that happen,” said the minister.
Tyrelstown amendment
The resistance to the evictions in Tyrelstown last year resulted in the government introducing the ‘Tyrrelstown amendment’ into legislation.
The so-called ‘Tyrrelstown amendment’, which is yet to commence, aims to prevent large number of residents in a development being evicted all at once. However, it does allow for 10 tenants to be evicted at any one time.
The minister said the Tyrelstown amendment kicks in next week and ensures that when a sale “actually happens that people are protected by law to stay in their homes, people who are paying their way”.
Coveney said he is not sure if the amendment would apply to the situation in Limerick, stating that he would need more information on the evictions.
We need to check if it does or it doesn’t.
He also pointed out that the legislation can’t be applied retrospectively.
Prenderville said the Tyrelstown law would only slow down the eviction of tenants, but would not stop vulture funds from issuing eviction notices.
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Ireland has been sold out to Vulture Funds by chickens in the Dail. There’s going to be a lot more of this disgusting face of capitalism in the next few years
@Paul J. Redmond: there will be much, much more unless people unite in solidarity against this naked opportunism and exploitation.
@Tonydaly. Agreed but I’ve lost faith in the will of Irish people to fight back. The polls showing the same corrupt parties who caused this nightmare still command the majority of votes depresses me beyond words.
@Paul J. Redmond: history so far shows that you are right but there is a point too far and I think that it is coming. The only hope is to follow the lesson of Spanish resistance to evictions. There is no other alternative.
@Tonydaly. In this instance, I’d love to be proved wrong. I’d love to see a genuine grassroots movement sweep away the old order for politicans who truly represent the people but as I get older and still see that 40% of Irish people won’t even vote in elections, I do tend to hang my head in dispare and disbelief. Then the rest vote for the side their great grandfather fought for in the civil war! History, please prove me wrong…
Sadly the Irish media are on a collage think mission to snuff any alternate voice out, else they won’t get the invites into the good room. You have to be an existing TD or a Trinity boff, to get any recognition of airtime.. But if you can get 100k people behind u then maybe. Trouble is the media will say you’ve only 20k.. Every way they will play you down..
130,000 family homes are in mortgage distress. This equates to c. 500,000 people…
@Keith McNair: when these homes are repossessed that will feed an even worse and more catastrophic disaster but the Givernment will be caught napping.
@Paul J. Redmond: great disasters in housing, health, education and transport will have a cumulative effect and drive the demand for reform even with a highly conformist nation which regards protest as a day out for the voluntarily unemployed.
There was a time when it was rusty criticisinfpg FG and FF. Attitudes are changing. People are starting to accept that the current disasters are connected with FF and FG.
You would think all those families in distress would come out, as many a movement would have hoped. But mortgage distress has been a very private affair, depressing and full of despair. No one wants to be admitting they have these issues in public, its bad enough having felt to have failed, even though with wages and taxes the squeeze has been more than many can cope with.. But something has to be done, other than just roll over… Maybe the Vulture thing will be the last straw..
“starting to accept” Tony? We’re over 8 years past the start of the recession. Methinks the moment may have passed especially with FF leading the polls. I’m not a natural cynic but I am a realist…
Fianna Fail,Fine Gael,The Labour Party and the Green Party all played their part in the demise of our country. It will take time, but it is coming too slowly for my liking unfortunately. The country has been sold for personal greed by politicians. There is hardly anything left to sell to these vultures.
@Paul J. Redmond: the full terrible impact has not yet been felt. When the full impact is felt, that will light a fuse and change voting patterns.
Agree with you there Paul, & I also think the lack of internet in Ireland is also to blame, a lot of people are kept in the dark, (only have rte & DOB to keep them updated) about the truth of what these government crooks are up to!
@Tony Daly: it means doing things are are deemed against the law, but the right thing to do.
This practice needs to end right now
@Paul J Redmond
Hi Paul, How many people are you waiting to fightback. Can you not see the water movement as part of the start of the Fightback ? What about the Repeal The 8th Campagin ?
Also the Home Sweet Home Campagin ? Ask yourself is there anything you can do to empower others to start fightback.
Remember 1916 rising involved a certain amount of people, not all Irish supported it, so lets remember it only takes a small few people to change the world!!!
its ok the people will vote ff fg again they will fix the problem !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! their get rich for their friends scheme is working quite well. ff fg = neo-liberalism.”when you have a nation of sheep you will have a government of wolves”
The tenants need to organise and refuse to leave as they did in Tyrellstown. Resist the vulture fund parasites and our political class which worships them.
@Benjy Dempsey: look at the example in Spain as well. Tenant solidarity and political support from the non establishment politicians will help.
It has to be the Irish people united in solidarity against the exploitation by the foreign vulture funds.
The AAA – PBP have an anti evictions bill in the Dail next week which would prevent these economic evictions to enrich the vultures. People should contact their local TDs and demand that they support the bill.
@Benjy Dempsey: People should contact their local TDs – Done. I don’t expect a lot but it will be an interesting experiment to see if and how they vote and if they are even bothered to reply to my email. Couldn’t help but notice an awful lot of TD’s that we haven’t heard a peep out of since last May.
Nooan a Limerick man will put things right ….
Sell his soul , the despicable (unt ….
I hope the tenants in these apartments didn’t vote for him, and for those who did I’ve no sympathy whatsoever. Limerick has given us the most traitors baxtard I have ever seen who has chosen vulture funds over the Irish people.
@Willy Malone: Does Noonan have a soul?
After all this is the man as the then health minister was threatening a dying woman with the courts…….
Doesn’t matter Paul…the people who voted him in last time will do it again…blind loyalty that keeps the corruption going
Idiot voters, but then again, Fine Gael didn’t win the last election. Enda lost it, but unfortunately other power hungry idiot politicians let him back into power. What a show of Wallies we elect ?!
@Randal McNally: Noonan’s first preference vote dropped from 13,291 in 2011 to 7,294 in the last election. He failed to reach the quota and was voted in on transfers from SF.
FG also lost a seat in Limerick with Kieran O’Donnell losing out. Limerick also voted in it’s first SF TD in 93 years during the last election. So hopefully things are changing but oh so slowly.
Willie O’Dea topped the poll and made the quota on the first count. He does lots of work at local level and everyone in the city knows someone that Willie has done something for so that is why he continues to poll highly in Limerick. Unfortunately people vote for him because of what he does and not necessarily for the party which he represents.
Another interesting note is that Cian Prenderville of the AAA narrowly lost out to Jan O’Sullivan for the final seat.
History will not be kind to Fine Gael. Vulture Funds will be forever associated with the Blue Shirt party.
Could not believe Noonan explaining the natural requirement for vultures to eat the dead and waist in society. Amazing his media lovers did not headline his grotesque comments. A guy at work who’s has a mortgage with a vulture fund was incandescent with rage and correctly so. Our apathetic nation would vote for these vultures sorry politicians over and over again and unbelievable vote for same failed politicians who have never experienced a days hunger.
They knew exactly what was happening as NAMA pitched to these funds, using section 110 to seal the deal
@Nigel O’Neill: indeed so. They invited in the vulture funds and offered them the tax inducements.
Mama and its bosses and Noonan are overpaid Unaccountable Vultures themselves !
What was wrong with the state taking control of the Apartments and either renting them out long term to hard working people or better still offer them on some sort of affordable housing scheme in conjunction with the local county council..
The state at the time didn’t gave the funds, they panicked and actually invited these funds in and offered them tax breaks. And yet, a short while later we had the funds too bail out the banks, go figure…
Didn’t have, that should be
Well done fg . You invited them in. You gave them tax breaks. You gave them charitable status . They are salivating at the profits while they very people that you work for are being put on the streets. Hope you are very proud of the fact that so many in Ireland in 2017 are homeless and it’s only going to get worse. Great job.
Dead right ! But we have come to expect that from Kenny and Noonan. How on earth, to spite loosing the last election, did Kenny get back into power ? Then again, Enda has never won an election. He has alway had to go into coalition ! Incompetent, inept, and ineffectual, except when it comes to his own advantage comes to mind !!!
@Randal McNally:
Well not completely inept….he makes a great effort in fairness traveling the world to show up everywhere having his picture taken with the rich and famous….
Where’s Noonan these days? Keeping his head down I guess…..
@Kerry Blake:
Only accessible to vulture fund managers I believe.
@Kerry Blake: I’m afraid Noonan is very much in the ‘Property-owning democracy’ notion of how things should be. Tenants are losers and deserve what they get. It’s a Little Britain cultural hangover shared by many in this country.
These problems don’t exist in other European countries where renting is the norm and security of tenure is guaranteed.
Private property rights of speculative vulture funds take priority over tenant welfare.
The land law reforms prompted by the Land League for agrarian tenants in the 1880s achieved, fair rent, fixity of tenure, free sale and ultimately ownership but this was achieved through the then Parliament of Westminster.
Now urban tenants enjoy far less legal protection that’s the rural tenants in the late 19th Century.
These are bad times and history will remember how psssive the Irish were.
The Spanish used solidarity and direct action to defend themselves. It worked in Spain but in Ireland we tend to be highly conformist.
As Stephen Donnelly poined out last night, the Irish people would have been no worse off had we just gave the vulture funds the propertys for free but made sure they couldn’t have avoided tax pn the asset they were gifted. Theres a provision in the constitution for taking them back, we need to do it and hand back the pittance we were handed.
This is getting out of hand now. This should not be allowed to happen. I’d say the government need to step in and help, but they already have, just helped the wrong side, the vulture’s. Plus they are a useless crowed. Roll on the next election…..
Getting out of hand? It’s only getting started with these vulture funds. These apartments are some of the best in Limerick yet I guarantee the vulture funds paid in the tens of thousands for each apartment, more robbery facilitated by Noonan, NAMA and the rest if the blueshirts!
Add to that PaulJ they are paying a grotesquely small amount of tax. Strong leadership needed to halt this sell off. Where is our glorious leader in this, is he still on his Xmas holidays?
Roll on the next election? We had a chance to oust these moron only a few months ago, but the same alarmingly idiotic village idiots across the country voted back in these utterly incapable, corrupt fools yet again. Until the half wits stop voting like this, things will only get worse.
I am consistently surprised by the constant flow of rhetoric from officials in NAMA ,who direct the blame for every single cock up they make regarding sales to various entities financial and otherwise.If these people are supposed to be experts in their field, then why are they so ignorant of the actions of some of the clients they deal with.Is there any inquiries made of buyers as to their intentions after a sale is complete.Is there any oversight regarding the intentions of buyers or indeed any interest at all regarding how they despose of these assets, to whom and what for etc. etc.They come across as a bunch of self-interested, blindly incompetent yes men playing with peoples lives and the lives of their families.The sooner it is dismantled the better…they have proved themselves less than able to perform any of their mandate and are unlikely to change now.
Cock ups imply mistakes, they are not making mistakes, it’s their intent to favour the invested interests of these funds over the people of Ireland, despite what way they spin to the contrary.
@SilentFugitive: prove it.
@Alan Ball…their actions are planned, succinct and very deliberate. They know exactly who they are selling to. They know exactly what the repercussions will be. They know exactly how they will be rewarded by Enda, Michael and Co because they are following government policy and direction. Not one single member of FG, FF or Liebour can claim ignorance or even incompetence – they are implementing the ‘best’ policy for the country. Except in their Ireland the financial interests of the few far, far outweigh the interests of the average Joe. The fact that they are looking after themselves just adds insult to injury. Ireland needs to come to a standstill and say enough is enough. A general strike with hundreds of thousands on the streets might make them take note. But they’ve made sure that the will to protest has been severely hampered by the threat of prosecution and vilification. Democracy????? I don’t think so!!!!
I think NAMA has had its day and should be wound up immediately.All remaining properties it owns should revert to the Irish state to be used as a national pension fund or social housing or for orderly sales to the general public. I will gladly march on the streets in demonstration. As for the NAMA employees they can rejoin the banks and financial institutions where they came from.
@Don….while I agree with your statement, even in the extreme chance it would ever come into being, it’s now too late. NAMA have already sold off most of our assets to their favoured few. Not to the highest bidder but at a discounted, never to be repeated price to their friends who turn assets over to make a killing.
@Em Ni Mhurchu: Your opinion ,valid as it is until proven otherwise ,is just an opinion.Where is your proof? I argue and believe I am right to do so for many reasons,that the perception of those running Nama to be experts etc. etc. is wrong.Like many institutions in this country set up by various governments the quality of those chosen to work in these ‘places’ is very suspect.The CV of many is just a list of yesman positions in the private sector or some government quango.The example of the HSE sticks out a mile !! If we have learned anything from the last 5 years or so of HSE management, it is they have demonstrated a level of incompetence and downright stupidity at times that frankly defies belief.The proof that the HSE is not fit for purpose is there to see.
Nama is under the microscope for a long time now and all we have to go on for now is rumour and allegations of corruption etc. Nice topic around the table at night but no more than smoke in the wind as far as proof goes.I believe you and others who speak of this and that going on in Nama…but I want proof,not a wishful argument that may or may not be true.
@Alan Ball: Their actions prove it.
Great we country and the way it takes care of its people not, as I have said many times before in any other country they would be up in arms.
Coveney and the government behind the curve as usual.
You’re a disgrace to the role of Housing Minister Coveney.
@Alex Falcone….not behind the curve. Following orders to the letter and delivering the EXACT result Enda, Michael and Meehall want – a bonanza for their friends and fcuk everyone else.
Wake up Noonan -it’s in ur back yard now -dump the vulture sharks-or u may not b welcome on the doorsteps come election time!!
The vulture funds call us Treasure Island
Noonan really is a disgusting subhuman walrus isn’t he.
@Aindriú Purfield: That’s a mean thing to say about Walruses.
Bring back the pike men
Would 11 million help
All these international bigboys start creeping in when the politicians start harking on about free trade and the recovery. You can bet some of the ‘ah look NAMA is doing better than we thought’ articles you would have seen in the Independent a few years ago were spurred by vulture fund investments and nobody was trying to out them as vultures that time
They are not being evicted. They are not having their leases renewed when they expire which is a big difference. Are we saying that owners should be forced to sign new lease contracts? Ridiculous
@Peter Gavin: “A NUMBER OF TENANTS in an apartment complex in Limerick have been given eviction notices” which bit of that sentence do you not understand Peter?
@Peter Gavin: you have a knack for interpreting facts from a landlords perspective.
We are talking about families’ homes not simply some investment. Have the sense to see beyond some spreadsheet! Families should have the right to renew their lease at a verifiable rate and rent increases should be regulated. This is distinct from commercial property or other invrstments.
@Keith McNair: right on the nail. That is what happens in other European countries.
Peter, looks like comprehension isn’t one of your stronger skills.
Irish Evictions 2017…fer phecks sake… and us well on this imaginary road to recovery…it’s a recovery for the few…imaginary for the rest of us…Jesus wept, has our history taught us nothing
All of this by product of tenant evictions is byproduct of the desperate measures to enable the banks sell off bad loans at a duscuunt to NAMA and to vulture funds. This can be traced to FG and FF measures to look after the banks, enrich foreign speculators and to scalp ordinary Irish mortgagors and tenants.
@Tony Daly….unfortunately you’ve got it in one. A more sad, sorry, despicable and repulsive reality is hard to imagine.
This is why renting a home from private companies in Ireland is about the worst option for people looking for a permanent home. Elsewhere they would be guaranteed tenancy for life and on a reducing rent as time went by.
This is the reason that renting laws need to be changed in Ireland and renters given guarantees (assuming they abide by the various rules) and guarantee lease renewal and only allow evictions for specific reason.
Also shame on NAMA for failing to “take care” of the residents of this sate while acting on behalf of the Government elected by those same people.
As a one time F G voter I am ashamed and OUTRAGED at Noonan and Kenny’s behaviour ! I wonder who’s passing them the ” Fianna Fáil” type brown envelopes ? On second thoughts, they are just ideologically in favour of the idea that the little person should pay for the Bankers and big Guys greed and criminal misbehaviour. What’s new ? Nothing changes !
Yep, our politicians have sold off Ireland by the pound to make a quick buck. Does anyone in government actually give a flying f*** about PEOPLE any more?
There ya go folks, you get the government you voted for and those that wouldn’t get off their arses to vote have no right to complain but you are as guilty as the one’s that voted for this shower. Plenty more to come .
They need to continue to pay their rent but refuse to move.
It’s time for sit ins.
Irish people (as opposed to government) need to actively resist these cancerous vulture funds.
@mursim: let us identify the politicians who support the vultures and those who oppose the vultures. It’s time for politicians to be asked which side that they are on.
Ask out local TDs.
“Do you support the vultures or do you support the victims of the vultures?”
Keep Calm, Carrion – Michael Noonan
This must STOP! It is socially and morally unjust. We each have a responsibility to stop it simply because, as history teaches, such injustice comes back to impact us all. If I buy a commercial property with a tenant, the tenant stays. Why can this not also be the case with residential property? There’s nothing too complicated about it. This requires a change in the law. We each should start to lobby our politicians to make this change, for our sakes and the sake of following generations that will reap the consequences if we fail to respect social justice. Similarly, no family home should be taken possession by a bank our vulture fund. At worse case, the funder, if it has actually lent money, and not simply created credit, can have an equity holding which can acrue inflationary interest. But no family should be evicted. Simple.
The muddled Journal headline writer strikes again: “Renters in Limerick apartments to be evicted after being bought by vulture fund” (or maybe renters are for sale in Limerick?)
@Tom Sheridan: No Tom they are being evicted after the building they live in was bought up by a vulture fund. I wonder just how much tax that Oak Tree has paid in this state…….
There must be a huge opposition to this and what the wealthy are doing to this country .This apartment space is needed in Limerick and more ,makim me especially angry
Enough is enough. This govt are a disgrace for allowing this to happen. Everyone knows what vulture funds are about so the govt can’t play dumb on this matter. If they do get evicted then they should wreck the place as a form of protest.
What is the outrage? They told them when your lease is up we are not renewing. Tough luck but that’s pretty standard thing. They are renting not owning.
@Joe Dobias: no, they have been to,d to vacate as Sova Properties wants to sell with vacant possession having bought the apartments at a huge discount with sitting tenants.
Those who will be evicted will fund it immensely difficult to find alternative accommodation in Limerick.
In other countries, investment properties are sold with sitting tenants and the benefit of the existing rental yield.
This is just about exploitative profiteering,
Rent in Limerick guaranteed to go up, these are the most expensive apartment blocks in the city before the vulture fund purchased them.
As someone who worked in the market, describing herself as “a capitalist”, she said she understood that people are entitled to make investments.‘Everybody wants to make a few bob’“I understand that everybody wants to make a few bob, but you can’t do it at the expense of people’s homes”…eh… you can if you are a capitalist, that’s how it works so tough titty. You lose.
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