The tenants of a Dublin apartment block that have been served mass eviction notices have vowed to stay in their homes no matter what happens.
As previously reported by Dublin Live the residents of 35 apartments in Tathony House in Dublin 8 have an eviction date of June 2 lingering over their heads. They were given notice back in October. A rally is set to be held at the block on April 22.
Both dates fell outside the eviction ban that was lifted at the beginning of the month. A Residential Tenancies Board hearing is scheduled but the tenants have vowed to stay in their homes and prolong the process as long as possible.
Read more: Dublin accounts for almost half of eviction notices set to kick in with lifting of ban
Tenant James O'Toole said: "We are waiting for an RTB hearing but we don't care at this stage what the ruling is - we are not leaving our homes and volunteering ourselves for homelessness. Obviously we will try stall our eviction as long as we can through the RTB and the courts but at some point the landlord will get a legal notice and a valid eviction order. We still won't leave. Even if bailiffs come, I'm not going!"
South Dublin County councillor Madeleine Johansson is also a tenant of the block, she said: "I encourage every tenant facing eviction to overhold and stay in your home. We need to resist evictions particularly when there is nowhere for people to go. We are holding a rally at our block at 3 o'clock on April 22nd to send a message to our landlord that we have support and his best option is to sell to Dublin City Council and leave tenants in their homes!"
The update comes as shocking figures show a total of 4,329 households nationwide will be faced with finding new accommodation in an extremely constricted market or becoming homeless. Dublin accounted for 43% - or 1,871 - of the Notices of Termination. There were a record number of homeless people in the capital according to the latest figures.
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