Dublin City Council is seeking legal advice following a last- minute demand from a developer for an extra €1 million for apartments it had made available for social and affordable housing.
A spokesman for the Council's housing section said this was the first time the authority had been faced with such a situation and that it was prepared to fight its case in court.
Meanwhile the ten Dublin families who had expected to move into their new homes this week plan to picket other sites in the city owned by the Galway-based developer, Zelda Ltd.
The families had agreed prices of between €180,000 and €203,000 for the two- and three-bedroom apartments in the Ringsend area. Under the Council's shared ownership scheme they were to pay half the price and rent the other half from the Council, with an agreement to buy out the Council and achieve full ownership over the next 20 years.
Planning permission was granted to Zelda for the construction of up to 100 apartments and an office block on the site, with a Section 25 Certificate from the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. Under this planning permission was granted on the grounds that Zelda would make a percentage of the dwellings available as affordable housing.
Mr Frank Lambe, Senior Executive Officer in the housing section of Dublin City Council (DCC), explained Zelda Developments had agreed to make ten apartments available to DCC for €1.9 million.
"As far as we are concerned," he said, "the agreement is binding. In recent weeks however Zelda came back to us and said they were now looking for €2.9 million."
Asked his reaction to the increased demand, Mr Lambe said the section was "surprised, annoyed and disappointed".
"We have referred this to our legal department and if necessary will go to court."
Among those affected is Ms Lorraine Malone who is currently living in a two-bedroom flat in Markievicz House on Pearse Street, with her son William (20), daughter Karen (22) and grand-daughter Caitlin (2).
"I sleep with my daughter and her daughter in the one bedroom. It's very cramped and we were really looking forward to moving in." The family had agreed to buy a three-bedroom apartment for €203,000.
"We were all set to move in in April or May, though we knew over the past few weeks something was wrong. We've bought furniture and everything.
"We were all called to a meeting last weekend in the Holiday Inn [in Pearse Street] and the Council told us Zelda was looking for another million euro, which none of us can afford."
She said the families had come together and would start picketing other Zelda sites around the city in an effort to force the company to honour its original agreement.
The Council has appealed to the developers to allow the families take possession of their new homes at the agreed price. Mr Lambe said that if a court ruled Zelda was entitled to demand an additional €1 million for the apartments, the Council would honour that.
Mr John Lally, spokesman for Zelda Developments was not available for comment yesterday.
