South Belfast Sinn Féin MLA Alex Maskey has said that there is growing concern amongst residents of the Ballynafeigh area that property speculators are attempting to buy out long-term residents and bypass regulations aimed at limiting the number of HMO’s in the area.

This reinforced Sinn Féin’s view that the problems currently associated with the Holylands area are creeping into other parts of South Belfast.

Alex Maskey MLA said: “I have spoken with a number of home owners in the Ballynafeigh area who, in recent weeks, have received speculative letters offering to buy their homes. Many residents view this as an attempt by property speculators to buy out long-term residents in the area in order to rent or redevelop existing properties. Many residents have also been alarmed at the number of developers applying to convert such properties to apartments, which they believe is an attempt to by-pass the current HMO regulations.

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"Clearly, if this turn out to be the case, it would have implications for the demographic make-up of the area as well as the community infrastructure.

"For some time now, I have been warning that the problems associated with the Holylands area are not confined to that area but rather, as property speculators and developers turn their attention to other areas, we could see other long-term residential areas suffer the same fate as the Holylands.

"That is why, for some time now, we have been campaigning and lobbying for such problems to be tackled. This month I will be meeting with the Social Development Minister Alex Attwood and I will be raising this issue with him as it is essential that any loopholes that allow developers to by-pass the HMO regulations are closed."

(GK/KMcA)