Wall Street Is Europe’s Landlord. And Tenants Are Fighting Back.
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A local child rode a bike in Tyrrelstown, a suburb northwest of Dublin, where dozens of tenants had been served with eviction notices after being told their homes had been purchased by a Goldman Sachs investment fund. CreditPaulo Nunes dos Santos for The New York Times
DUBLIN — The Tobun family never missed a rental payment on their modest brick rowhouse in eight years. But in February, the couple, who have two young children, received a letter warning that they would be evicted when their lease expired. Forty of their neighbors got the same notice.
When they went to investigate, the tenants, in the working-class suburb of Tyrrelstown, discovered a trail that led all the way to Wall Street.
After Europe was ravaged by a financial and economic crisis, the giant investment bank Goldman Sachs snapped up huge swaths of distressed debt in Ireland, including the loans of Tyrrelstown’s developer in 2014. The developer now wants out of the rental game and is selling the properties. As the owner of the loans, Goldman will reap a large portion of the proceeds…
Wall Street Is Europe’s Landlord. And Tenants Are Fighting Back.
