Mick Wallace
On Friday, September 29, 2017, tenants of Northbank apartments on Castleforbes Road, Dublin 1, received letters from their landlord, stating that they had sold their apartment to NAMA and that NAMA would be issuing a 12-month lease to them on their current terms.
Five days later, on Wednesday, October 4, Independents 4 Change TD Mick Wallace claims that the tenants learned from a newspaper report that the entire apartment had been put on the market by NAMA at a price of €33 million for 124 apartments.
Mr Wallace also claims that NAMA have confirmed that they purchased individual apartments within the block before putting it on the market, stating that:
“The recent purchases by NAMA were required to consolidate the entire block, hence increasing the value of the overall property in preparation for its sale as a single lot.”
Further to this…
Mr Wallace writes:
“This is a frightening development. We are in the middle of housing crisis, and NAMA are now buying apartments, in order to sell them on to vulture funds. NAMA have now become property speculators.
“It beggars belief that Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Labour, and now even Sinn Féin, believe that NAMA have the expertise to solve our housing crisis. NAMA are part of the problem, not part of the solution.”
“What makes it even worse is, tenants have informed me that within the apartment block, there a vacant units, some sitting idle for over three years.
“How can NAMA justify this when we are struggling with a housing crisis? These apartments, along with the rest in the block, will be no doubt purchased by a US vulture fund, and rented out for outrageous prices.
“Clearly, doing business with vulture funds, is more attractive to NAMA than helping to fix the housing crisis.”
“It is time for the Government to suspend the work of NAMA immediately, and start with this apartment block.
“The vacant apartments within the block could be given to the local authorities. If we keep selling apartments and houses in large blocks to vulture funds, we will continue to have a housing crisis for many years to come.”
Rollingnews
jasus
‘vulture funds’ don’t buy after a 4 year rally in property prices, the term is emotive and redundant here
the tenants here have a lot of protections in terms of rent increases now, Wallace is just scaremongering
what’s likely that happened was there was a number of apartments held up in legal mess from repossession and default and for whatever reason weren’t occupied. NAMA has obviously worked through this now the whole block can be sold – very likely it won’t be empty for much longer. If i know the block, most of the vacant units are retail ground floor anyway
Tenants can be given notice to leave by the new landlord who will probably use the renovation loophole to get them out, touch up the magnolia paint a bit and put them back on the market for a couple of grand a month.
https://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0801/894396-saint-helens-court-dublin/
“probably” , who’s speculating on property now?
as i said, needless scaremongering
This will definitely happen. NAMA are speculating. And they shouldn’t have the power to do what they are doing but as long as they have the power to do it they will continue to do it.
You are – with your “what’s likely that happened”. Pure speculation.
i don’t think there’s anything wrong with speculating
i don’t think what NAMA is doing is speculation, its main role has always been to clean up the mess of assets and loans from the banks and sell them on to limit the loss to the state. This transaction is exactly that
Bet ya the residents are mighty scared.
“NAMA have now become property speculators.”
NAMA always was a property speculator. It was set up with the primary aim to buy property and re-sell it at a higher price. It is supposed to turn a profit.
Whats the problem here? NAMA really aren’t in the business of being landlords, what did they expect?
“This is a frightening development….”
No it’s not.
Trump is frightening, ebola is frightening, the skanger on the red line Luas screaming at his skeletal girlfriend with a needle hanging out of his neck is frightening.
This is known as a commercial transaction.
Potential homelessness isn’t frightening?
Trump is no more frightening than any other world leader.
Trump is the only one waving threats of nuclear war around which his pretty frightening.
to be fair, little rocket man is not shy when it comes to this kind of waving
Granted, the difference being LRM doesn’t have the capability to hit the US making the threats from the moron more dangerous to places like South Korea and Japan than his own bailiwick. They’re like two drunks squaring up to each other in a pub with China and Russia playing “calm down” and the rest of the world watching on nervously wondering if things will kick off.
Commerce is the exchange of goods and services.
This is rack-renting, pure and simple.
pure and simple?
no one has had their rent increased
“These apartments, along with the rest in the block, will be no doubt purchased by a US vulture fund, and rented out for outrageous prices”
If Mick Wallace’s forecast of doom comes to pass then the charge of rack renting can be applied. Otherwise it’s NAMA doing NAMA’s job i.e. selling state owned property to cover the debt that FF gifted the state in an effort to save their builder mates.
Disgraceful
I wonder… the recent purchases by NAMA, were the owners know to NAMA, were the owners part of some golden circle, what did NAMA pay for these apartments …
I know its conspiratorial talk , but with all I’ve seen and heard over the past few years , I just don’t accept anything I hear from government sectors at face value …
NAMA hired the same developers that failed to make money out of the properties in the first place because they were judged to be the best people to make money out of the properties.
I’d be surprised if there was a NAMA deal done outside the golden circle.
Spot on RB
All of this information is publicly available if you actually want to look into it.
NAMA, doing the vulture funds bidding – good man baldy noonan, I’m sure his retirement pot is secure..