‘Absolutely absurd’ former council houses leased back

FORMER council homes being leased back to South Dublin County Council from investment funds, indicates the “insanity” of the housing system, according to local representatives.

The Business Post on Sunday reported details of five former council houses in the South Dublin County Council area that are being leased from investment funds at an estimated rent of €1,500 a month, for social housing.

In some cases the houses were repossessed after the financial crash – in others they were sold directly by their owners to funds.

Three of the properties, all in North Clondalkin, are owned by the Davy Platform ICAV, part of the Davy Group.

Dublin Mid-West TD Eoin Ó Broin said it is “absolutely absurd” that some tenants can be evicted from their rented properties.

“It just confirms the insanity of our housing system. The taxpayer pays to build these homes. Council tenants are able to purchase them – that’s a good thing and I support it – but at a future point in time they can sell those properties in the market.

The Sinn Féin housing spokesperson said local authorities aren’t allowed to buy those properties at the end of the 25 year lease, under a rule introduced by the last Government.

He noted those rules were amended last year – so local authorities can buy some vacant properties for the purpose of housing people in long-term emergency accommodation.

If a tenant who buys a council house later decides to sell it, Deputy Ó Broin believes that house should have to be sold back to the council with the enticement of a discount rate “index-linked for inflation”.

Gino Kenny, People Before Profit TD for Dublin Mid West blasted “a completely absurd situation where the council is leasing back homes that it built decades ago at a ridiculous cost.

“In the long run this practice will be extremely costly to the taxpayer and when the 25 year lease is up the family might not be able to stay in their home,” he said.

Cllr Madeleine Johansson (PBP) said most of the homes will be owned by major investment companies “making huge profits from these leases”.

“This is yet another hand-out to private investment firms from the state. If this, and previous governments had built adequate numbers of council houses in the past we wouldn’t have found ourselves in this situation.”