Residents in a South Tipp housing estate are being intimidated and treated with disrespect.
That’s according to Sinn Féin’s Clonmel representative Dean McGrath who is publicly calling for the receivers of Knocklofty House and its environs to immediately engage with the community residing there.
The demand comes after these de facto landlords carried out a number of actions that he says could be interpreted as intimidating, including placing large concrete blocks on various routes, knocking on doors without scheduled arrangements, and the distribution of letters about their future status as residents.
Dean told Tipp FM that the conditions some people are living in are deplorable and this treatment goes against human rights:
“These are people who have been living on this site for years, the receivers of Knocklofty must recognise the rights of the people residing on Knocklofty Estate that there are tenancy rights and engage with them. It is entirely the vacuum of information that people are incredibly worried about. The behaviour of the receivers we would like them to engage with the residents in a respectful dignified ultimately conciliatory manner lets negotiate lets talk don’t let this vacuum of information build.”
He said some people have already left the area after receiving letters that he says we sent to provoke anxiety and fear:
“The letters essentially demanded that the tenants clarify the legal basis for their occupation of the property. Some of these tenants have been in situ for over a decade. The manner in which the letter were worded they were quite anxiety provoking. I read it myself when we were presented with it, we were quite worried for the tenants because we didn’t know what it meant either. Obviously we have some vulnerable people, we have elderly people, we have young families living in there and that caused massive anxiety for them.”
