Subsidies worth up to €30k for first-time buyers of derelict properties to be announced in April, Minister says

A NEW subsidy for first-time homebuyers buying derelict property will be announced soon by the Government, the Housing Minister has said.

Minister Darragh O’Brien said a subsidy of between €20,000 and €30,000 to incentivize first-time buyers to purchase derelict properties would be announced in some stage before April this year.

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Discussing its value, he said: “So a lot of first-time potential buyers are out there who see the property on the main streets of our towns and villages and really looking at them and saying if I have a little bit of support, can I buy it. There I can live there.”

Full details of the plan are yet to be confirmed, but it is expected that the funds will be accessed through local governments for renovations and other expenses – similar to the Help To Buy grant. for new homes.

Housing expert Rory Hearne says more needs to be done to tackle the problem of vacant and derelict properties.

“What we need is a really effective vacant and derelict property tax,” he said. Crucially, it’s annoying enough that it essentially forces the owners of vacant and derelict properties to sell or rebuild and use it as rental properties. “

A report on residential buildings from geoDirectory released this week shows that there are more than 100,000 vacant and derelict homes across the country. Irish.

Caitriona Scully, who recently bought her first home in Limerick, said it took two years of searching before she was able to climb the property ladder – and that was after getting “a little help” .

She told RTE: “Sometimes it destroys the soul, you’re looking at $40/50,000 over your budget and when you sit down and do the numbers you’re like I can never buy that “.

“The maximum I could get was €120,000 so I started searching in that frame in that timeframe and everything that I found was literally derelict property. I couldn’t find one. anything in its price range.

“Fortunately, I finally found something, but it wasn’t exactly in my price range, I helped out a bit.”

New regulations allow bar The conversion from commercial to residential use without planning permission will go into effect next month.

Commenting on this, Fianna Fail The minister said: “I believe we will be able to tap into a sizable resource of very striking buildings. Most of our towns and villages are home to our pubs.. . they are on the main street.”

However, Sinn Fein said the new measures did not go far enough.

PUBLIC HOUSE TO HOUSE

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin said: “It is another example of tinkering around because even if the premises do not have to be converted to use, they still have to apply for many other types of planning permits, especially is to meet the standards for residential use for safety, etc.”

Peter McVerry Trust chief executive Pat Doyle said there were vacant and derelict pubs around the country that could be used as House.

The head of the housing charity said: “We are currently working on four pubs in four counties and they will bring in 18 properties.

“Everybody knows when you’re planning a new development, if we wanted to put those 18 units into one location in Dublin, it would take us two years to do that from planning, Procurement, tender, whole lot.

“Now if we’ve got the unit and they avoid the planning, it’s really just about the procurement process and getting the builder onto the site and getting the building on top.”

Earlier this year, we featured some stunning homes built from the ruins of a Old pub in Waterford.