Council offered as little as €16k for house

Cork County Council may be forced to sell some of its affordable housing stock to developers as its not getting offers anyway near the market value from the public.

It was disclosed at a meeting of the council’s northern division in Mallow yesterday that in one case the local authority had only been offered €16,000 for a two-bedroom house.

Mary Ryan, the council’s director of services, said this was far below the value of the property, even if some work was needed to bring it up to scratch.

Assistant county manager Moira Murrell said they had a number of houses in certain parts of north Cork which had been on the market for quite a time because the council either had received no offers for them or the offers were well below market value.

Councillor John Paul O’Shea (Ind) said he knew of several houses which had been on the market since 2005 and said the council should sell off these properties, even for such sums as low as €16,000, as the houses would deteriorate further over time if not occupied.

Councillor Dan Joe Fitzgerald (FF) said he was aware of some houses in Buttevant which the council couldn’t sell and urged officials to “sell them off as a package”.

Councillor Tim Collins (Ind) said the reasons offers were low or non-existent was because financial institutions wouldn’t give people mortgages.

Ms Ryan said that at this stage the council’s options were “very limited” and officials would be looking at the situation in the coming months.

Councillor Tom Sheahan (FG) felt it was wiser to sit on the houses in the hope there might be an upturn in the economy next year.

Councillor Ronan Sheehan (Lab) also thought it better to wait. He said selling houses well below the market value would give people the idea the council “was a soft touch”.

Meanwhile, the downturn in the economy has brought some good news to the local authority.

It is in the process of insulating some of its older housing stock and has been provided with a grant of €3,500 per house to complete the project.

Council officials informed Mr Fitzgerald that they were actually receiving quotes of around €2,000 per house from contractors.

The council is getting a lump sum from the Department of the Environment per year to do the work, so it will be able to insulate more houses than originally anticipated.

Officials said they hope to complete more than 200 homes in north Cork this year and around the same next year.

It’s hoped all council houses in the region will be fully insulated within the next four years.