Council housing in County Kildare is worth €1 billion
Maintenance
Kildare County Council’s housing stock has been valued at €1 billion.
The figure emerged at a council meeting this week as councillors called on KCC to develop an effective inspection programme for all local housing stock.
Fianna Fail councillors Suzanne Doyle, Brian Dooley, Bernard Caldwell, Noel Heavey and Rob Power said this programme would protect the significant capital investment and reduce ongoing maintenance and repair costs.
They also called for a tenancy incentive scheme which would acknowledge and reward “tenants of good standing.”
Cllr Doyle said regular inspections are needed especially for new houses whereas older houses will be more problematic. Cllr Doyle said the call for an incentive scheme for the €1 billion stock is “well intended” and would ultimately save money.
Cllr Suzanne Doyle
KCC’s Annette Aspell said the intention is to capture the current condition and link future funding to both targeted and planned maintenance works, to reduce maintenance costs.
Currently KCC inspects properties inline wihit targeting funding such as the energy retrofitting programme. But a national asset management system will be adopted once it's introduced.
Ms Aspell also pointed out that a deposit scheme was introduced in January 2019 to incentivise tenants to maintain the property. It works by refunding the deposit in full in the event of the property being returned to the council in good condition.