Turnaround time of seven months to re-let houses
There are 51 houses boarded up in Tallaght

Turnaround time of seven months to re-let houses

THE TURNAROUND time for getting council-owned houses ready for reletting is taking around seven-months on average and with 110 boarded up houses in the county, the time needs to improve, according to a councillor.

South Dublin County Council manages around 10,000 rented homes, and one percent of these are vacant at any one time.

Over the entirety of 2022, re-let works were complete on vacancies arising in 177 council-owned social homes.

Cumulatively, the average time for these properties to be re-let was coming in at 28.39 weeks, or seven months – which represents a time improvement of over 17 percent year-on-year.

At the end of October 2022, there were 6,010 applicants on the council’s housing list.

With over 6,000 people on the housing list, and 110 boarded up houses across the county, Cllr Charlie O’Connor believes there needs to be greater action taken.

“We have to improve on the time. We have to get the houses back and ready for relet as quickly as possible,” Cllr O’Connor tells The Echo.

“It creates a very bad impression when people go into estates and see so many boarded up houses.

“There is a huge number of people from our area looking for houses in our areas, and they would be delighted to take those boarded up houses.

“I’m glad that my colleagues were so supportive at the council meeting on Monday. The numbers in Tallaght South, which is basically West Tallaght estates are very concerning.”

At the monthly meeting of the council, Cllr O’Connor raised a motion calling for effective action dealing with boarded up houses to return them to the housing stock for reletting – and it was supported.

Of the 110 vacant properties, 44 of them are in Tallaght South while seven are in Tallaght Central.

There is 30 boarded up houses in Palmerstown-Fonthill, and 16 are in Clondalkin, nine are in Lucan, three are in Firhouse-Bohernabreena and one is in Rathfarnham-Templeogue.

At the last Tallaght area committee meeting, it was also revealed that there are six local authority houses, five in Tallaght South and one in Tallaght Central, which have been vacant for more than six-months.

South Dublin County Council has a detailed 12-step plan to deliver a “clean, safe and secure property to incoming tenants”.

The housing authority recently undertook a review of its relet process and is attempting to streamline its processes to complete all main works inside 16 weeks.

From 16 to 20+ weeks will be for contingency measures and communication of revised timelines to a prospective tenant.

Where the frustration lies with people awaiting a housing allocation, is that they can see the numbers of boarded up houses.

“Even when council applicants are contacting us, they make the point that they see boarded up houses and they wonder why they couldn’t take one of those and be responsible for getting them ready,” Cllr O’Connor says.

“There is an issue, and it’s in a time where politically it is housing, housing, housing.

“I know in the big number in the overall situation but it’s a significant enough number, and the number in Tallaght particularly concerns me.

“We need the relets available for reallocation as quickly as possible.”

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