It was an eventful show today, on Liveline. Some none-too-impressed listeners had their say, clearly annoyed with various county councils around the country, and their tendency to board up houses and rip out the interiors when they acquire properties, either on the open market or through regaining possession following, perhaps, the death of a council tenant.
One such unimpressed listener was Marie Murphy, from Ballyfermot, and she didn’t hold back.
“When you sell your house back to the council, if you’ve done home improvements like extended your kitchen or put in a half decent kitchen, it’s all ripped out and put into a skip.”
Marie gave the example of a house down the road from her own in Drumfin, the lady was vacating the property to go and live with her daughter, as she was getting old. “You want to see what was going out in that skip”, Marie said. “I’d say it was oak, or something. It was absolutely beautiful. They tore the whole flipping lot and out into the skip it went.”
“Have you made improvements to your house”, asked Joe, you Duffy.
“I have. And I’ll tell you, it will not be sold back to the council. It’s in my will. My house is to be sold privately and my neighbours are to be taken into account. I don’t want it sold to riffraff. I want my house to be sold and my neighbours to be looked after. They look after me, I want them looked after. I would leave my house to the Cats and Dogs Home before I'd leave it to the council.”
There was certainly no mistaking Marie’s passion on the subject. But how exactly this stipulation in her will was to be executed, that the house should never be sold to “riffraff”, and how her neighbours would have a say in its sale, was a mystery to Joe. “I have it in that I want the house to be sold to somebody half decent. I don’t want it to be sold to riffraff. Excuse me for saying so.”
But how is the solicitor or the executor going to decide who is deserving and who is undeserving of her house? Well, whether enforceable or not, Marie seems to have faith in the appointed estate agent to enforce that clause as per her wishes.
All of this discussion came from the opening call of the show, where a woman called Margaret Murtagh told her story. According to Margaret, she sold her house to Dublin City Council during the summer, moving out on October 20th. When she went back to say hello to the new neighbours recently, she discovered the house was boarded up.
Given the housing crisis in Dublin at the moment, Margaret was outraged. She insisted her house was in “perfect, walk-in condition”, and would have been ideal for any of the thousands of homeless families on council waiting lists. And yet, she claimed, Dublin City Council insisted she rip out perfectly working appliances to be replaced with brand-new ones.
For their part, Dublin City Council provided Liveline with the following statement.
The City Council, when they acquire properties, must carry out a health and safety inspection to determine whether all standards required under the City Council Letting Standards are being met. Whilst many of the properties appear in pristine condition, there may be matters that would not be apparent to the owner, but that may require work under health and safety and housing regulations. An example might be the requirement for fire doors and other fire safety works or installation or heating works to improve the energy efficiency of the dwelling.
In this instance, the sale closed on 20th of October, and a contractor has been appointed to carry out the works required to bring the property to Dublin City Council letting standards. Dublin City Council are very aware of the housing crisis and make every effort to allocate properties as quickly as possible. However, we also have a duty to ensure that any property acquired meet the agreed Letting standards.
The Liveline team fielded calls from across the country on this issue, so it appears that some public concerns in relation to the council policies are nationwide.
Listen to the full show, click here.