Donegal County Council says it is once again engaging with the owner of nine houses in a Ballymacool estate in Letterkenny over a potential sale to save tenants from eviction.
Weekly meetings are now being planned to find a resolution to the issue which has left families in agonising uncertainty since 2023.
Weeks before Christmas 2023, residents of nine houses in The Forest estate learned their homes were being put up on the market by property company Twin Estates.
The company has since been in negotiation with the council over the purchase of some of the properties under the Tenant-in-Situ scheme.
A lengthy stalemate followed, during which Twin Estates said they were awaiting a response from the council after providing defective block testing and analysis.
Cllr Jimmy Kavanagh was provided with an update on the matter at a special housing meeting yesterday.
Speaking on behalf of the council, Director of Housing Patsy Lafferty commented that a recent meeting between Donegal County Council, the vendors and engineers was “positive”.
Mr Lafferty said that the vendor indicated at the meeting that he was “happy to enter into discussions again”, after indicating that he was looking to withdraw from the process last year.
“Engineers are meeting to tease through outstanding information that is needed,” Mr Lafferty told councillors. He added that the council hopes to keep the meetings going “on a weekly basis” to conclude it.
“In fairness to the vendor, it was acknowledged that the most important thing here is the affected tenants, their long term housing stability and certainty. We’ll continue to have those engagements as regularly as possible over the next weeks.”
Speaking on the update, a resident of The Forest said it’s important that the council knows they are still waiting.
“We all want it to be over,” they said.
“We are struggling for over a year to get out of this terrible situation.”
