13 housing applicants who were informed in December last year that they are being rehoused in homes in the Crann Ard estate in Fermoy are still waiting to move into them.

The applicants were interviewed in November and allocated houses in the estate in early December by the housing agency NABCO. They were given their house numbers and showed the houses and the estate. The estate also has a number of private houses.

NABCO wrote last week to the tenants awaiting keys to their new houses, telling them that Cork County Council has to complete remaining snags there and resurface the road before a handover date can be finalised. The matter is out of their control, NABCO’s Housing Support Officer, Leona Hennessy informed them.

Not so, Cork County Council’s estates manager, John Aherne, told a meeting of the Fermoy local area committee on Monday afternoon. He said the outstanding works were the responsibility of the developer. There was a problem with the bond which is held by AIB.

It was the second time in the meeting he referred to problems with developers having bonds held with AIB. The problem, according to the estates manager, is that the bank is not allowing developers to draw down bonds to finish works.

“We’re not legally responsible until we take the estate in charge,” he informed the meeting.

The news will come as a blow to the tenants waiting to move in who are being left in limbo.

“It’s a terrible situation for them to be in,” Cllr Noel McCarthy said this week. “Many are in private rented accommodation and, having been allocated houses in Crann Ard, gave notice to their landlords that they would be moving out. Now they have to renegotiate to stay. In one case, a woman living in Kildorrery doesn’t know whether to enrol her child in school locally or in school in Fermoy. Nobody has been in contact to tell them what’s happening, it’s very hard on them,” he said.