Eviction looms on Tullamore estate as residents fear locks on houses will be changed

THERE are just six houses left occupied at Locke House View in Tullamore out of a total of 15.

Last January the residents there received notice that they had to be out of their homes by August 19 this year. The letters came after the estate had been auctioned off in June 2021 at a cost €1.665m.

Most of the residents have managed to find alternative accommodation but some haven't been so lucky.

Sofiane Guedri has been living at Locke House View since 2017, he said he now has people at his door every day warning him he has to leave. Sofiane said he is only too happy to move but has nowhere else to go.

He has been in contact with Offaly County Council but up to today, Tuesday August 23, he has not been able to find anywhere else to live.

He is now afraid to go out to shop as he says he has been told if he doesn't vacate the house the locks will be changed and his belongings will be put into a skip. He doesn't know who the people are that are calling to his home but they come every day, he says.

''I need to go to the dentist, I was awake all night with a toothache, but I'm afraid in case I come back and all my stuff is in a skip and the locks are changed.''

Sofiane's electricity was also cut. He rang his electricity provider and they said they couldn't understand as he was paying his bills.

''They said they would reconnect me for €130, but I said why should I have to pay that when I have been paying my bills.''

Sofiane said when he returned home one evening there was a jeep outside his house and the electricity was mysteriously restored.

In the meantime workers have begun renovating his home while he is still living there. Scaffolding has been erected outside his front window and Sofiane says they want to remove the chimney from the house.

He is now on the council housing waiting list. He has been asked if he would live in Clara. ''I said I will go now. I'm ready.'' But so far he has received no word. Sofiane also lost his job with an engineering company during Covid.

Work is quickly progressing on the estate and the houses are being transformed into high energy efficient homes. Those that are finished now have solar panels fitted and they have been repainted.

Sofiane said one man who had been living on the estate for 21 years has returned to live in England and he didn't get his deposit back.

Last January another resident who wished to remain anonymous said: ''Half the houses are leased by the council under RAS, we have to wait to see if the council are going to house us, we don’t know. I am a council tenant. This is a private house being rented by the council. I have contacted the council. They just say you will have to wait to see what happens further towards the date.'' It's understood this particular tenant is still living on the estate.

What was once a tight knit community has been fractured. What the future will hold for those that remain is unknown.