A family who paid a €5,000 deposit almost two years ago to buy a house under an affordable purchase scheme in north Dublin is facing homelessness within weeks due to delays in the completion of the estate.
The 52 affordable houses at Hayestown near Rush were due to be completed by September of last year. However, the project has been beset by delays with buyers of more than half the homes yet to receive their keys.
One family of five, who had to leave their rental accommodation last October, two months after their purchase was due to complete, say they have exhausted their short-term housing options and are facing homelessness at the end of this month.
In May 2023 Fingal County Council advertised 52 houses for sale at Hayestown through the affordable housing purchase scheme. The scheme, one of the key elements of the Government strategy to boost home ownership, offers workers priced out of the property market homes at a discount, with the State taking an equity stake in the property.
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Applications for the two and three-bedroom houses opened in mid-June of 2023 with prices of €228,000-€299,500, a discount of up to 22 per cent on market values. Buyers of two-beds could have maximum incomes of just under €60,000, while those applying for three-beds could earn up to €72,000.
The estate was due to be built in three phases, with the final phase scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2024. However, the scheme has been beset by delays, with a variety of reasons given to the multiple buyers who have contacted The Irish Times over the last year.
Buyers said they were initially told by developer Manley Homes that the build had been delayed by adverse weather in late 2022 and early 2023. In July 2024 a delay in securing electricity connections was cited. An ESB spokesman told The Irish Times there had been “no delays on our part”. ESB technicians had attended the site the previous month “with a view to finalising the work” but the site had not been ready, he said.
In December last year buyers said Manley Homes informed them sales could not be closed until the council made VAT payments in relation to its stake in the houses. The council said at the time it was “not preventing [sales] from completing in any way. Any suggestion to the contrary is not accurate”.
In the days before last Christmas a small number of buyers received their keys, with more sales completed in the early months of this year for buyers whose homes were in phase one of the development.
However, some buyers of the 27 homes in phases two and three say they were told an issue with achieving compliance with building control regulations was delaying the finalisation of their purchases.
In recent days the council said Manley had “resolved the outstanding issues with Building Control for the second phase of homes, and Fingal County Council are prioritising the next steps to allow these 18 homes to be sold”. However, it said phase three, with nine homes, is “still in progress, and the developer is preparing to apply to building control for certification”.
One buyer whose home is in the third phase told The Irish Times she, her husband and three children are facing homelessness at the end of this month if her sale is not completed.
“Our landlord gave us notice in October 2023 because he wanted to sell, but we thought that was okay because we had paid the deposit for the house and we were due to move in the following August.”
When the sale did not progress her landlord allowed the family to stay on for several months past the termination date, she said. “He let us stay until October of last year, but he had a buyer, so we had to move out then.”
The family was unable to secure a new rental and has since been staying with family and friends. However, she said their current accommodation is not available beyond the end of this month.
“We are out of time. In two weeks we will be homeless, with no line of sight for when we may be able to move into our home. If we knew this is what the affordable homes were managed like, we would have never applied.”
Manley Homes did not respond to requests for comment.
