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SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, March 11, 2013

QUESTION NO. 2

QUESTION: Councillor T. Gilligan

To ask the Manager how many RAS houses are being paid for but are left empty, and how much has been spent to RAS landlords where homes have been left empty, if any?

REPLY:

RAS properties are only vacant in the following instances:

• new vacant property is contracted to RAS
• where a vacancy occurs as a result of a tenant moving out and reinstatement works required to bring the property to reletting standards.  

Under the terms of  the RAS scheme there is a permitted 3 month void period to allow for allocation to suitably qualified tenants and the RAS contract terms obliges a landlord to reinstate the property within 7 days of termination of a tenancy.  In all such circumstances every effort is made to have the property tenanted in as short a time as possible following its availability for re-occupation and this has been our experience.

Since the inception of the RAS scheme in 2004, the 3 month void period has only been exceeded in a minimal number  of cases due to exceptional circumstances. 

As at 1st March 2013 over 1300 properties are contracted to RAS of which 5 are currently vacant. All these vacanacies have been for a period of much less than 3 months.  New tenants have been identified for each of these properties and the formal allocation process is underway.