Cost of €16k to get empty council homes ready for new tenants in Westmeath

Every time a council house in Westmeath becomes vacant, it costs €16,000 to prepare it for new tenants. The figure was shared with members of Westmeath County Council during their quarterly finance meeting in Mullingar recently.

However, one councillor said he has recently seen a house left in such a state that he estimated it would cost €60,000 to €70,000 to restore it.

Describing it as “an absolute disgrace”, Cllr Mick Dollard said that the couple who had been living in the house had simply abandoned it, and left it in really poor condition.

“Think of all the other units now that could have been repaired [with this money],” he said, adding that the public often does not hear about this side of the social housing provision question. The figure for restoring houses for reletting was provided by director of services Jackie Finney in response to a query on the cost from Cllr Ken Glynn, and on the turnaround time for “voids”. Ms Finney said that the council evaluates its performance using the NOAC (National Oversight and Audit Commission) indicators, noting, “It's one of the few ways we can measure ourselves nationally, and our vacancy rate is one of the key areas we examine.”

She said Westmeath is performing well compared to the rest of the country in terms of turnaround times. She also pointed out that the vacancy rate has improved significantly—from 2.37% in 2020 to 1.23% in 2024—while the current national vacancy rate stands at 2.81%.

However, she acknowledged there are ongoing challenges.

Ms. Finney explained that the budget available to the council for this work has increased from €1.4 million to €2.9 million over the same period. “As our housing stock increases, we’re trying to do more to bring houses up to standard,” she said. In 2020, the cost per house was €16,000, she told the meeting, going on to reveal that at one stage, that figure rose to €22,000 before returning to €16,000 in 2024. This, she said, was an encouraging sign that the council is now getting better value for money—an important consideration, given that the Department only provides €11,000 per property, with the remainder having to be covered from the council’s own resources.

“We do have to ensure that we get value for money,” she emphasised.