Action to be taken on hundreds of Laois homes left empty
Owners of empty houses around Laois may be getting a call from the local authority to encourage them to return them to use.
Up to 650 homes around Laois are lying empty, despite the severe housing crisis.
Laois County Council CEO John Mulholland has said that “probably 350 of them are in fair to good condition and would lend themselves to refurbishment”.
The council vacant home team is working through a list of 650 homes that are within 1km of town centres.
Of the 307 properties they have already checked, 167 are proven to be vacant.
Almost a third are in “good condition.
A quarter are “in fair condition”. There are 29% in “poor condition.
A final 16% are “uninhabitable”.
Another 634 homes outside of the urban zone are to be surveyed next.
The council says that its next step is to try and contact the owners of those vacant homes, and outline to them all the different schemes available to renovate them, such as the Croi Conaithe scheme that gives up to €70,000 in grants.
They say they will make “local enquiries” to try and find out who the owners are, if official queries fail.
If all those efforts fail, “use of the CPO process deemed to be suitable for social housing will be considereed”.