COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, May 08, 2023
QUESTION NO. 1
QUESTION: Councillor Carly Bailey
To ask the Chief Executive for a report on the Tenants-In-Situ scheme. Report to include the number of properties offered to SDCC, sales that have been completed to date and explain any barriers/blockages the Council has encountered related to this scheme
REPLY:
The Council has been notified by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage of approval for 150 property acquisitions in 2023.
At the end of April 2023, 220 expressions of interest have been received from landlords/property owners interested in selling their property to the Council, of which:
- 17 properties have been purchased or are at sale agreed stage
- 75 properties are at valuation/negotiation stage where the Council is seeking to purchase having completed all pre-purchase checks
- 90 properties at various stages of due diligence & pre-purchase checks
- 38 properties are not proceeding due to either the property being vacant/tenant no longer in-situ, the tenant having been made a reasonable offer of alternative accommodation or where the property is not deemed suitable for acquisition.
Where expressions of interest are received from property owners, various standard due diligence checks are undertaken in relation to property condition, valuation and conveyancing and the general steps in the process are as follows:
- Determine the housing need of the household and suitability of the property concerned to the household's needs with a flexible approach being taken to prevent homelessness where possible.
- Ascertain the validity and timelines of the Notice of Termination.
- Explore options for suitable alternative accommodation where available.
- Unertake condition survey and valuation of the property.
- Commence negotiation on an acquisition price for the property.
- Where a sale price is agreed, the Council’s Law Department are then instructed to complete the conveyancing process.
Individual property purchases can be delayed for various reasons such as the owner not having full legal title, various planning issues, outstanding property taxes, general contractual conditions of sale not in place etc. The process is also reliant on timely progress from the vendor’s legal and sales agents, so timeframes vary from purchase to purchase.
The Council is taking appropriate steps to ensure that our first response will be to support households to try to prevent homelessness in cases where tenants have been served with a notice of termination by their landlord. A recent press release issued by the Council to advise tenants what to do if they find themselves in this situation is available at the following link: SDCC important information regarding notices of termination.html
Additional resources have been temporarily re-assigned to this work area from elsewhere within the Housing, Social and Community Development directorate and additional external technical resources have also been procured to ensure that the existing potential acquisitions are progressed as promptly as possible.
Inter-authority arrangements are also in place with neighbouring and other local authorities as required to progress potential acquisitions for South Dublin housing applicants in HAP supported tenancies at risk of homelessness in other local authorities’ administrative areas and vice versa.
The level of activity and resource requirements for tenant in-situ purchases will continue to be reviewed in conjunction with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in the coming months to ensure that we are able to prevent homelessness where possible.