Council sells contentious Clondalkin house at a loss of €239K
By Mauice Garvey
A CONTENTIOUS Clondalkin house, which cost South Dublin County Council €639,000, has been sold on the open market for €400,000.
The property at 1A St Patrick’s Road was labelled a “waste of taxpayer money” by local councillors after construction costs of €563,000 were increased by the building of a wall, and a CPO (compulsory purchase order) at an adjoining parcel of land.
Constructed by SDCC in 2006, the property was placed on the market.
However, difficulties were encountered in the sale or letting of the house, due to a disputed strip of land which forms part of the side garden to the property - a former public pathway which remained registered in the ownership of the original developers of the estate.
A settlement was finally reached in December 2015 and the land acquired by the council in March 2016.
Initially, the local authority hoped to recoup some of the cost from the sale/letting of the house, but that position changed when they conceded the property would not achieve the financial return originally envisaged.
12 months ago, councillors voted 22-15 in favour of placing the house on the market, to honour a pre-existing agreement with local residents that the property be sold and money ring-fenced to purchase two properties for families on the housing list.
Prior to that, councillors discovered the St Patrick’s Road property would have required “significant structural adaptations” if it was to be allocated to a local family with a disabled son.
Ray Cooke Auctioneers handled the sale of the four-bed, three bathroom detached property.
Their brochure describes a “magnificent” 1,600 sq ft house which “boasts all the advantages of a modern structure – with the allure of a mature, settled and well established development.”
Internally the property “enjoys bright, well-proportioned living accommodation”, “breath-taking gardens to the front, side and rear of the property”, which “oozes potential to be transformed into a superb family home.”
TAGS Clondalkin
