Buyers of Rathmolyon housing estate who feared losing deposits to get partial refund

Buyers of homes in a Rathmolyon housing estate who feared losing their full deposits after the development went into receivership have been informed that they will have part of their monies returned.

In October, Receivers were appointed to Meathamatic Ltd, the company behind Ringfort, a development consisting of 16 three- and four-bedroom semi-detached homes sold off the plans aimed at first time buyers.

Prospective buyer signed contracts and paid thousands in deposits, some as far back as 2020 but now have no idea if the project will ever be completed or if their full deposits of up to €30,000 will be returned.

However, as a result of the Meath Chronicle making enquiries on the purchaser’s behalf, buyers were informed this morning that the €5000 booking deposit paid to estate agent DNG would be returned to their bank accounts “immediately.”

In a statement to this newspaper yesterday evening, a spokesperson for DNG said:

"Following instruction from the Receivers today, we confirm that any deposits requested are being refunded more or less immediately."

It comes as HomeBond, a provider of structural defect cover for new homes informed one of the buyers that deposit cover was not included in the insurance policy taken out by Meathamatic Ltd. However, as it is more than three years since the activation of the policy, buyers in any case, would not be protected by the HomeBond scheme, which guarantees the 10% booking deposit for just 24 months.

In a letter seen by The Meath Chronicle dated October 24th, solicitors acting on behalf of receivers appointed to the Rathmolyon project stated that the €5000 booking deposit paid to DNG Estate Agents would be made available to the buyers. It goes to say that the balance of the deposit was paid through the Help to Buy Scheme by Revenue and that the receivers were “currently in communication” with the HomeBond scheme in relation to the same.

Spudmuckers Limited appointed Interpath Advsory as receivers to Meathamatic in October. Spudmuckers is an investment company backed by, among others, Joe Elias, a businessman who is also a director of Meathamatic. Spudmakers is the largest creditor of Meathamatic, which hoped to develop the housing project.

The development was being built by MDS Construction, a company headed by RTÉ Home Rescue star Peter Finn, he resigned as a director of Meathamatic late last year.

Earlier in the year buyers who entered into contracts with the developer were asked to pay an extra €60,000 on top of the agreed sale price of €275,000 due to the project running into financial difficulties.

One buyer who was informed this morning that her €5000 booking deposit would be returned has welcomed the news but says “there is still a long way to go” to move on from this situation.

“We were contacted this morning to say the 5K would be in our account by Monday,” she said. "I’m delighted something is finally happening but I’m still so worried about the rest of the money. It took us nearly seven years to save it and now it’s up to the receivers if we get it back or not,” she added.

"There has been very little information from the receivers."

Just before a receiver was appointed to Ringfort, a buyer who asked not to be named decided to step away from the sale due to the strain it was having on her mental health. She was also contacted and informed her deposit would be transferred with immediate affect.

She says she and her partner have been financially crippled by the ongoing saga.

"If you go over the three year period of saving and handing out deposits, this whole fiasco has cost us our life savings,” said the buyer.

"€18,000 of the deposit was through Help to Buy scheme and we put up just under €10,000 of our own money.

“We cannot get another new build until the Revenue can claw back the money from the Help to Buy Scheme but if they can’t we will have to resort to go for a second hand home which means we have to fork out anything from €30,000 to €40,000 in terms of a deposit so this whole process will have cost us nearly €40,000 euros of our own savings.”

The prospective home owner says it has been “a rollercoaster” since they put down a deposit in in May 2021.

"We were told we would be in our house by June 2022 and were happy with that and then from that date onwards it was pushed back every three months. We believed it and went along with it, got everything in order, had bought appliances, furniture, basically got a whole house ready to go, continuing to save, our lives put on hold for two and a half years.

"It is probably one of the hardest things that I have gone through.it has been draining, it has consumed our lives, it is all you focus on, it is all you are thinking about.

"It has been the unknown for nearly three years."

It was another buyer who made a call to HomeBond who confirmed that deposit cover was excluded from the Ringfort policy, however she was unable to obtain written confirmation of this on request.

"Everyone had said to us with dealing with receivers this is going to be quick and painful, they are going to straight to trying to throw you out of your contract and seven weeks in we are not any further along," said the buyer.

"My house was €275,00, I used a Help to Buy deposit for €27,500 and I paid a €5000 holding deposit in cash," she added.

"I had €1500 worth of extras sitting in that house, that cash is gone. I’m up at a figure of about €50,000 so far.

"It;s like the Laurel and Hardy episode of house building."

Both those who want to stay engaged in the process and those who have walked away "are trapped" according to the buyer who said:

"Those who have pulled out can’t get their deposits back, those of us who want to try and stay in, have no communication.

"There are a handful of us who are determined to keep fighting this and keep going to the end in the hope that we do get our homes but this is our third Christmas into this.”

The government has been urged to step in and take action but so far nothing has been done according to this buyer who said:

"We have reached out to Darragh O'Brien I don’t know how many times and we have been outright ignored by him, he has not acknowledged us once. We don’t expect the government to step in and pay or to take over but it needs to be addressed. This isn’t ok, this could happen to other people.”

"They’re just leaving people high and dry without any indication as to what will happen and coming up to Christmas to see the houses sitting their going damp, with weeds growing out the back gardens when we’re supposed to be in the middle of a homeless crisis is criminal," added another would be home owner.

A spokesperson for HomeBond said they were unable to discuss information with anybody other than the relevant policyholder.

Interpath Advisory has been approached for comment.