A young Donegal man has been given until September to vacate a house after Donegal County Council were granted a possession order in respect of the property.
In a case brought before Letterkenny District Court, Judge Éiteáin Cunningham ruled that Jordan Crawford did not meet the criteria to be allocated the property at Liscooley Villas.
Mr Crawford will now have to vacate the three-bedroom house which was formerly the home of his grandmother.
Mr Kevin McElhinney, solicitor for Donegal County Council, told the court that the previous tenant, Mr Crawford’s grandmother – who was one of the first people to have moved into the estate when it was built – has deceased and the current persons in occupancy “don’t satisfy the Council’s allocation process”.
Having to vacate the property, Mr Crawford said, would leave him with no options.
“Housing is impossible, never mind for young people such as myself,” he told Judge Cunningham. “I don’t know where to go.”
Mr Colin McNulty, Area Manager for Housing & Corporate Services in the Lifford-Stranorlar Municipal District told the court that the previous tenant passed away in October 2022 and her grandsons, Mr Crawford and his brother, sought to gain tenancy.
Mr McNulty said that an application for succession was submitted in January 2022, after which the Council wrote to the tenant seeking further documentation, including a birth certificate and a certificate of income. That information was not submitted, Mr McNulty said, meaning the applicant was not added as an occupant.
He explained that the Council would need to recalculate the rent, which would be based on the income of a tenant. There would also have had to have been continuous occupancy for two years prior to the death of the original occupant.
The court was told that Mr Crawford and his brother were “living on and off for a number of years” with their grandmother. A joint application was previously made for the brothers, but Mr Crawford has since submitted a sole application.
Mr McNulty said that it was “not sufficient” to say that he was living here.
“You need to be on the rent roll to be considered for succession,” Mr McNulty said, adding that a notice of the Council’s intention to recover possession was issued in December, 2023 following an exchange of correspondence.
He acknowledged that there is a difficulty with housing.
“We have a long waiting list,” he told the court. Mr McNulty said that the Council allocated housing per its policy and it is a points based system.
In response to Mr Crawford’s solicitor, Mr Donough Cleary, Mr McNulty said that he was not disputing that an application was submitted, but that a statement of income to cover a 52-week period was required. Pay slips, he said, were “not sufficient” as it only gives a “snap shot of a few weeks”.
Mr McNulty said that the rent book was closed following the passing of Mr Crawford’s grandmother. Mr Cleary said that rent has been paid in the interim.
“No rent has been charged on the account,” Mr McNulty said.
When asked if they would send the money back, Mr McNulty said: “We can’t stop someone from using a card to make payments…We have no way of identifying the individual who was making those payments.”
He said the Council has “no discretion under law” in relation to a matter such as this.
Mr Crawford told the court that he was working from April 2022 and was unemployed for around four to five months prior to that. He said he was aware that his grandmother had made an application regarding the tenancy, but he heard nothing further subsequent to that.
Now working as a tyre fitter, Mr Crawford told the court he would pay whatever rent the Council required.
Mr McElhinney said that the Council could not prove or disprove that Mr Crawford was there for two years or longer.
“That is not the critical aspect,” he said. “The income of Mr Crawford was never provided so that could never have been taken into account.”
He said he had a “degree of sympathy” for the situation Mr Crawford found himself in, “but the allocation policy is quite clear and they (the Council) have no flexibility”.
Mr McElhinney said that the three-bedroom property would be “very much needed by other people who have emergency housing needs”. He said he appreciated that Mr Crawford may find it difficult, but that he is entitled to apply for housing assistance.
“This property would satisfy a family with young children,” Mr McElhinney said. “It would be remiss of me not to highlight that where there is such a need for housing.”
Mr Cleary said that there was social welfare information as well as payslips handed in. He told Judge Cunningham that he believed that the issue was something that could be “got around”.
He said: “To penalise him is unfair. We will come across cases where tenants make no attempt. That is not the situation here.”
After carefully listening to the evidence and the submissions, Judge Cunningham considered the matter for a week.
In delivering her ruling, said she was satisfied that Mr Crawford does not meet the allocation policy of Donegal County Council.
Judge Cunningham granted the order for possession. A stay for three months, to allow Mr Crawford find alternative accommodation, was placed on the order.
“That is as much as the Court can do,” Judge Cunningham said.
An application for costs in respect of the matter was made, but was not granted by the Judge, who said: “In the interests of justice, that is the most appropriate order with regard to costs.”
Donegal County Council will be able to take possession of the property from September 5.
The decision can, however, be appealed to the Circuit Court.
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