Cork County Council houses will be occupied before upgrade works completed 

New tenants renting some Cork County Council houses will have to tolerate upgrade works still being done. The idea is to reduce the time it takes to return vacant properties to use.

The average time to bring unoccupied houses back to use last year was 42 weeks. Keith Jones, the council’s director of housing, said that while major works would be done when properties are vacant, minor works would be carried out while tenants are in situ.

In addition, the council plans to advertise vacant properties on its online choice-based letting (CBL) site almost as soon as work begins, to ensure they are occupied more quickly.

Concerns over turnaround times 

Mr Jones outlined the measures at a meeting of the county council’s southern division, after Fianna Fáil councillors Patrick Mulcahy and Patrick Donovan raised concerns about the turnaround times.

The southern is the most populous of the council’s three divisions. It stretches from the Kerry border, at Ballyvourney, to Youghal, in the east, and encompasses many of the county’s largest towns, including Carrigaline, Midleton, Cobh, Carrigtwohill, and Macroom.

Mr Jones said there are 138 vacant properties in the division, of which 44% are new-build homes.

He said 82 properties are ready to be let.

Of these, 55 have been offered to tenants who are awaiting occupancy, while the remainder are progressing through the allocation process.

Concerning

Mr Mulcahy said it was concerning that the average vacant house took 42 weeks to return to use, but welcomed Mr Jones’s plans to speed up the process.

Mr Donovan said he appreciated that some houses require significant work before they can be reoccupied.

Independent Ireland councillor Ger Curley said he was taken aback by the amount of work carried out on one vacant property in his hometown of Cobh. Mr Curley said he had previously visited the house, after it had been vacated by a family, and believed it had been maintained to such a high standard that he would have moved into it himself.

“It was in pristine condition and the whole place was taken apart. I would have moved into that house no problem. It feels like money is being wasted,” he said.

Assistant county chief executive, Michael Lynch, replied that the local authority “is not in the business of wasting money” and that if a house was suitable for occupation, it would be reallocated as soon as possible.