Refusal of Cork housing offers doubles in four years

While the number of properties available for letting by Cork City Council increased last year, there was also a significant increase in the number of refusals last year compared to previous years

While the number of properties available for letting by Cork City Council increased last year, there was also a significant increase in the number of refusals last year compared to previous years. Picture: Larry Cummins

The rate of housing offer refusals in Cork city has almost doubled in four years, with more than half of all refusals blamed on the area or the property being unsuitable.

A measure introduced in 2015 in a bid to deter refusals doesn’t seem to be working effectively anymore, the city council’s head of housing, Niall Ó Donnabháin said.

The details emerged in a response to a written question from independent councillor Ken O’Flynn, who asked at this week’s meeting of Cork City Council for a breakdown of the reasons for housing offer refusals in 2021.  

The top five reasons for refusals were:

• 29.50%: the applicant deemed the area unsuitable;
• 28.78%: property deemed unsuitable;
• 4.32%: property deemed too small;
• 2.16%: the applicant claimed they bid on the property in error.
• No reason was given in just over 10% of cases.

Mr Donnabháin said, despite Covid, the number of properties available for letting increased, with the 983 offers processed last year exceeding the total of 832 offers processed in 2018 and 2019 combined.

But he said there was a significant increase in the number of refusals last year compared to previous years. Of the 983 offers processed, 279 were refused — a refusal rate of 28%.

Escalation of refusals

“This is a marked escalation compared to a relatively static refusal rate averaging 15% over the four years from 2017 to 2020 inclusive,” he said.

He told Mr O’Flynn the refusal rate is concerning as a high level of refusal inevitably leads to properties which are available for letting remaining vacant for extended periods, with an increased risk of such units becoming the target of vandalism, dumping, or other antisocial behaviour at a time of immense demand for social housing supports.

“It should be noted that the vast majority of these offers were processed after the applicants had expressed interest in the property through the Choice Based Letting (CBL) system,” he said.

“The property listings on CBL include the address of the property, details of the facilities, photographs and a link on Google Maps to show the exact location of the building.

“All of this information is provided to allow applicants to make an informed decision on the suitability of the particular property to meet their housing need prior to committing themselves to submit an expression of interest on an advertised property.” 

Despite all of this, Mr Ó Donnabháin said almost 60% of refusals last year were due to the applicant deciding the area or the property on which they had previously expressed interest was unsuitable.

National legislation underpinning CBL specifies that any applicant who refuses the offer of a property on which they have previously expressed interest are not considered for a further offer for one year.

The refusal rate dropped from 35% in 2015 to 13% in 2016, but Mr Ó Donnabháin says the deferral period no longer appears to have the same deterrent effect.

Last month, FG Cllr Deidre Forde said the council should consider a two-year bar on housing offers to people who refuse a housing offer.

“The people that are refusing these offers don’t always realise the implications of their refusal.” 

“If they weren’t that taken with a particular house in the first place, they should withdraw their expression of interest far earlier in the process, because there are plenty of people who would bite that hand off you to get inside the door of these houses,” she said. 

The council said the rate of refusals will continue to be closely monitored this year before any decisions are made.