Council 'disappointed' as vendor withdraws from proposed deal for Letterkenny houses

Donegal County Council has hit back at claims from a property developer that the local authority has not shown urgency in relation to purchasing properties at Ballymacool in Letterkenny.

Twin Estates put nine homes at The Forest Estate at Ballymacool in Letterkenny on the market in late 2023 with families in fear that they would be evicted. 

The developer was in communication with the Council, who had proposed to secure the properties under the Tenant-in-Situ scheme.

However, Twin Estates last week told tenants that the offer to Donegal County Council was being withdrawn. Phil Boyle of Twin Estates told tenants that the decision was made with “deep regret’”.

“I asked them for a sit down to two weeks ago and I have had nothing but out of office emails since,” he wrote.

However, Donegal County Council has refuted some claims made.

“Contrary to reports suggesting a lack of communication, Donegal County Council has been in ongoing contact with the vendor and has taken significant steps to progress the potential purchase of these homes,” it said in a statement.

“In this regard, the Council received initial test results from the vendor in October 2024. It has been reported that the Council has not been in touch with the vendor since then. This is inaccurate. During November the Council reverted to the vendor with a number of queries.

“These queries related to outstanding information that the Council would have expected to have been provided in order to enable the consultant engineer to make a recommendation to the Council on the houses.”

Earlier in the year, the Council hired HD McKay Consulting Engineers to assess the properties

Separately, Twin Estates said it carried out all block testing and analysis in accordance with I.S. 465, and sent the results to the Council in October.

In the message last week to residents, Mr Boyle said that he would have to now proceed to sell the houses privately, “as my company cannot afford to allow the sale of these house to go on indefinitely”.

Donegal County Council has said that a response from Twin Estates “did not adequately address the outstanding information” and said it was “disappointed” with the decision of the vendor to withdraw from the process.

The Council said: “The Council remains committed to assisting the affected tenants and addressing their housing needs. We will continue to actively engage with the tenants and the vendor to protect families from eviction and secure alternative accommodation at the earliest opportunity. 

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“We understand the stress and uncertainty the tenants are experiencing and encourage them to continue to engage directly with our housing team as we seek to identify suitable alternative accommodation. The Council would hope that the vendor will cooperate in this regard.”