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Dublin Live
Dublin Live
National
Dan Grennan

Neighbours of nightmare Council tenant in private block 'ruining their lives' taking legal action

The owners of an apartment block have taken legal action against Dublin City Council over a nightmare tenant that has "ruined the lives" of neighbours for close to two years.

The residents of the city centre block, some of which are also owners, have complained numerous times to the local authority about anti-social incidents.

They say the Council has "done absolutely nothing" about the situation - despite a recent horror stabbing in the tenant's apartment.

The Council tenant's guests regularly damage the shared spaces in the block and steal packages meant for residents.

Those living next door say they are "terrified" about leaving their homes.

The owners of the block feel they have no other option but to take legal action to enforce the rules of the flat complex.

The property management company for the development told Dublin Live the action was being taken because DCC has "created unacceptable living conditions" through their tenant.

They said: "The proceedings are being taken very reluctantly by the apartment owners as they believe that the Council is in serious breach of the lease agreement it signed when it purchased the property it owns in this development and has not taken appropriate steps to remedy these breaches.

"This has created unacceptable living conditions for residents and has led to multiple tenants leaving the development.

They added: "Despite providing full details to the Council on these matters on multiple occasions, no action appears to have been taken by the Council. As such, the apartment owners have been left with no alternative but to initiate legal proceedings."

A spokeswoman for DCC said they "cannot comment on specific cases".

A resident of the complex pointed out that the tenant has a number of convictions including for burglary and drugs offences.

They asked why DCC would place this tenant in a private flat complex.

DCC did not respond to a Dublin Live query on whether they knew of the tenant's convictions.

The DCC tenant has also been accused of drug dealing and hosting all-night parties in the flat by residents who added the gardai have raided the property countless times.

Neighbours in a private block of apartments say they have been driven demented by the regular disturbances.

Recently, a man in his 20s was stabbed in the tenant's apartment, which led to neighbours questioning DCC as to what has to happen before the tenant is evicted.

One source told Dublin Live: "The blood of that young man was still visible throughout the building" the morning after.

They added that during the terrifying incident, there were sounds of furniture smashing and crying heard throughout the building.

Another source said "drug baggies" were thrown across the staircase and "what looked like crystal meth" was on the floor outside the door of the apartment.

Dublin Live previously reported that evictions of Council-tenants are very rare.

Councillor Noeleen Reilly said there are "huge" issues with anti-social Dublin City Council tenants that can attract drug dealers and all-night partying.

The Ballymun-Finglas Councillor stressed that it is a "small number" of DCC tenants that cause the trouble, but added it only takes one or two to "ruin" an area.

And DCC data shows that there hasn't been any evictions for anti-social behaviour since new laws were drafted many years ago.

This leads to a perception that drug dealing, all-night parties and criminal behaviour is "okay", Cllr Reilly told Dublin Live.

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