It takes over a year for CCC to re-let houses

THE average time take to re-let property by Cork County Council last year was 61.28 weeks.

However, according to CCC in its Social Housing submission to the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) did note that this figure includes houses referred to as voids. These are properties which have been vacant for a prolonged period of time and require extensive repair.

Additionally some properties are returned after lengthy periods of tenancy and can require a significant amount of work to bring them up to present day letting standards.

It is Cork County Council’s responsibility to ensure that these standards are met. If void properties are excluded from these figures, the average time taken to re-let a property in the Cork County area in 2015 was 20.15 weeks.

In 2014 the Council returned 155 voids to productive use at a cost of €2,347,347. However, €1,539, 464 of this figure was recouped from the Department of Environment Community and Local Government and the Council funded the balance of €807,983.

In 2015, further progress was achieved in the Council’s efforts to return voids to occupancy with an increased total of 229 voids returned. Thirty one of these voids were funded entirely from Council resources at an approximate cost of €500,000.

The overall cost of returning the remaining 198 properties was € 3,543,988. Of this figure €2,091,581 was recouped from the DECLG and the Council funded the balance of €1,862,407.

The Council has a Voids Programme for 2016 which includes 70 units at an approximate cost of €1.37m, 40% of which is likely to be funded by the Council.

The Voids Programme covers a specific range of works. However, when the Council is working on a vacant property, the opportunity is maximised to carry out works to bring each property to the highest possible standard for letting, which in turn may impact positively on acceptance levels.