Laois mortgages held up over vacant house refurbishment grants
People how have had loans approved to revive vacant houses to turn into their homes can't draw down mortgages because of problems with a Government grant scheme design to help with renovations.
That's according to Laois Offaly TD Brian Stanley who has called for “urgent action" from Government following revelations that no vacant home refurbishment grants have been issued in Laois/Offaly since the scheme opened last year.
The Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant (worth up to €50,000) is available to eligible applicants for the refurbishment of their property into a permanent home or rental property. A top-up grant of €20,000 is also available for derelict properties.
Once approval has been granted, property owners are given 13 months to complete the works, after which the grant will be paid following a successful inspection.
So far, nobody in Laois has drawn down funds despite the fact that the scheme opened a year ago. To date 35 people have been approved with others waiting to have their applications processed.
“Talking to applicants across the constituency, I am hearing a lot of complaints about the scheme. Many lenders are still concerned with the treatment of the council clawback and are delaying mortgage drawdown. We are also hearing of long processing times as councils are struggling with the staff time required to deal with the application process. There are also inconsistencies in how Councils are applying the conditions of the grant.
“Despite all the promises from Minister (for Housing) Darragh O’Brien, just four grants have been drawn down across the state with not one issued in the four Midlands Counties. The Minister needs to step in, end the inconsistencies, provide councils with the staff and ensure that all bank lenders are up to speed with the terms and conditions of the scheme.’’
“Prospective buyers are taking on a big enough risk purchasing and renovating a derelict or vacant home. They should not have to deal with all of the issues arising from a scheme that was badly designed, announced before the details were cleared up and is slow to process. If we are going to speed up the supply of housing the Minister needs to sort out these blockages,’’ said the TD in a statement.
According to an official report - which covers the period between April 1 and June 30 - just 1,120 grant applications were submitted nationwide (597 for vacant homes, 500 for derelict homes), with a total of 506 approvals.