Council clamps down on bulk buying of property

Fingal County Council has passed a motion to prevent multiple apartment units being sold to a single buyer.

The motion, proposed by Green councillor David Healy, was discussed at this November’s meeting of Fingal County Council.

With housing becoming one of the hot general election topics, the motion saw various councillors weigh in on the issue.

Healy’s motion now compels Fingal County Council to commission a report which would allow the council to slightly deviate from their development plan. 

The report, which will now be presented to councillors next month, could mean that the public could have first dibs on apartments that come into the market.

“The issue here is we are seeing apartment complexes being developed in areas of single family houses, quite often large houses, with a lot of residents in those houses wishing to downsize to a smaller property.”

“There are people who are not willing to sell their house in order to become a tenant in a newer apartment but would very much like to sell their house to buy an apartment. What we’re facing at the moment is a situation where some of those apartment complexes are being taken entirely into rental and not being made available for sale,” he explained.

He noted that many apartment developments are being financed by government money, but the developers have not decided if the stock will be available for rent or sale.

“There is a circumstance where the landlord demand risks keeping apartments out of market, which would be used for downsizing for local people. This would enable people to remain in their communities, which is what they want to do, and would free up the housing that they are currently living in and would benefit other people in the community.”

Social Democrats councillor Joan Hopkins supported the motion, saying “this is something our national parliament was not able to achieve.”

“It’s not just about downsizing, it’s about individuals who want to buy and live in an apartment. 95% of what we’re building now in Dublin is build-to-rent and people want to own their own homes.”

Hopkins has spoken out about Ryanair’s purchasing of 25 homes in Fosterstown Place in Swords, with a September report from the Business Post revealing that 18 of those homes have been vacant since the purchase took place.

The move, which sparked national controversy when it was announced earlier this year, has become especially prevalent in light of the ongoing homeless crisis in Ireland.

Hopkins called Ryanair’s move “a slap in the face” for local residents. 

“We have a situation where wealthy corporations like Ryanair feel they need to enter the property market because their staff can’t find anywhere to live.

“However, it just adds insult to injury when badly sought after homes are left empty in the middle of Ireland’s worst ever housing crisis.”

Earlier this year, news that Ryanair mass purchased homes in Swords caused major political controversy on the Northside.

In recent weeks, People Before Profit members pitched tents at Fosterstown Palace to raise awareness of the issue. 

Dublin City Council member Conor Reddy said, “the fact that Ryanair is being allowed to hoard 25 empty family homes while 4,419 children are homeless is both an insult to those homeless children and an indictment of the housing policy of this government.”

“In the first place, MKN Properties should not have sold these houses to Ryanair. Ordinary people never had a chance against the financial might of a corporation like that. Selling houses to Ryanair in the middle of a housing crisis is like selling food to a speculator in the middle of a famine.”

Reddy’s colleague on Fingal County Council, Solidarity councillor John Burtchaell, backed the motion and said he would back any motion to “drive vulture funds out of the country.”

“They are not a benefit to our society, they’re ransacking us for profit and extortionate rents. The red carpet has been rolled out for them over the last 10 years with catastrophic consequences for society.”

Independent councillor Joe Newman also backed the motion and said he would like Fingal County Council to tackle the issue of commercialisation in the housing market.

“I would hope that somewhere along the way we could tackle the commercialisation of residential housing estates; we have families living in an area, somebody moves in, takes over a house, rents it out and puts pressure on homes in the area,” also noting that the council should tackle the likes of Airbnb and the role it plays within the Irish housing market.

All 34 councillors present at the meeting voted in favour of the motion, which will now be subject to a report to the planning department of Fingal County Council,