Vacant houses costing Council up to €600,000

And for the first time the true economic cost of the “scandalous” vacancy rate is laid bare by the Galway City Tribune: Galway City Council is losing somewhere between €120,000 and €600,000 annually on lost rental revenue from its stock of empty properties.

Some of the houses are empty for over five years and have become dilapidated, run-down and require major investment. The sorry spectre of empty properties comes despite there being 3,610 households on the waiting list for a home. Some of the families waiting to be housed have been on the list for up to 11 years.

Councillor Catherine Connolly (Ind) has demanded Galway City Council takes action on its stock of 78 vacant properties, which is unacceptably high.

And she claims that not only is the Council losing money due to the loss of rent revenue from the empty houses, but in some cases it is also stumping up high costs to security firms to guard the properties from vandals.

She said the high level of vacancy of Council houses is “scandalous”, given that as of December 2013, 78 houses or apartments are vacant for between three and five years or more; some are on it for 11 years.

In the Claddagh, two properties remain empty since 2007 and 2008, and are in need of major refurbishment. She estimates that the Council is losing between €120,000 and €600,000 every year in lost rental income that it would have accrued if the properties were occupied. That’s based on weekly rental levels of between €30 and €150 for low income and social welfare recipients.

“It’s not just the lost income. The big problem is they are empty when there are so many people waiting for a house. It is scandalous that these properties are lying empty for years, they are becoming derelict through neglect and it’s a Catch-22.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.