People on council waiting lists, yet how many ghosts estates are there?

Prometheus

It never fails to annoy me when you hear about ordinary decent families waiting years for accommodation from local authorities, yet the amount of empty houses that are all over the country rotting. I am really considering squatting in a nearby empty estate. I would look after the property and pay what I could afford. Does anybody else think this way?

R.F.

Well they are not owned by the council so it makes sense. Although I understand what you are saying.

mikemac1

Tenants can turn down properties.

Even if the local authority took over some ghost estates people may prefer to stay on the list until something better came up

Interia is strong and some won't consider moving elsewhere in the county


Which is a problem as many of these ghost estates are in rural areas, Section 23 in small villages where the biggest employer for miles is the local Spar shop

And if you don't have a car, forget about it. No buses here

Biggins

Petca4 wrote: »

...how many ghosts estates are there?

2881+

See: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0913/1224304027431.html

See: http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1022/ghostestates.html

DEFTLEFTHAND

Who pays?

Prometheus

Keep putting up excuses, who pays, middle of nowhere blah blah blah.
So its better to have perfectly good houses rotting away.
Jesus Christ

mikemac1

Petca4 wrote: »

blah blah blah.

Why even start the thread if you're just going to dismiss everyone?

R.F.

Petca4 wrote: »

Keep putting up excuses, who pays, middle of nowhere blah blah blah.
So its better to have perfectly good houses rotting away.
Jesus Christ

Well who does pay?

There is a reason why the houses are rotting away

Corkblowin

Majority of people on housing lists in cities - majority of empty houses in arse end of nowhere - why on earth would you dump them somewhere with no facilities, no transport & no prospect of employment? That was one of the causes of the problems in ballymun in the '60's - let's not make the same mistakes again.

Fromthetrees

They should definitely be turned into something and not left to rot but not turned into council houses because of the many reasons already outlined.

Maybe a tourist attraction of some kind? :P

mikemac1

Fromthetrees wrote: »

Maybe a tourist attraction of some kind? :P

Some sort of urban warfare training environment
The tourists would love it!

The guys over in Airsoft forum could come up with a plan

Prometheus

We are paying for them (property tax etc)

What is the reason they are rotting away?

R.F. wrote: »

Well who does pay?

There is a reason why the houses are rotting away

Biggins

Petca4 wrote: »

...What is the reason they are rotting away?

Its partly called 'Irish weather conditions'.

Kurz

I think it would be irresponsible to write down the council list with these places. They're probably falling apart and are unfinished. There'd be uproar if something happened. In Athlone where I live there was a kid killed while playing in a ghost estate and he wasn't even a resident of it.

I think these places should be put on the market for highly discounted prices like 30K or 40K.

staker

So what happens to the people "living" in these ghost estates already?-It's OK,Mr. taxpayer has it taken care of,you're grand

IrishAm

staker wrote: »

So what happens to the people "living" in these ghost estates already?-It's OK,Mr. taxpayer has it taken care of,you're grand

Exactly. The poor sap who already lives in one of these ghost estates wouldn't be best pleased if the council started housing people for free and him having to get up at 7am every morning to finance his mortgage.

mikemac1

Not free, local authority tenants pay rent

Not a lot but they do pay

IrishAm

mikemac1 wrote: »

Not free, local authority tenants pay rent

Not a lot but they do pay

How much on average?

Maybe "their heavily subsidised housing" would be more apt.

mikemac1

You say heavily subsidised

Maybe they are paying a fair price and the rest of us are being robbed blind when it costs several hundred per month to rent a house

Chucken

IrishAm wrote: »

How much on average?

Maybe "their heavily subsidised housing" would be more apt.

http://www.fingalcoco.ie/Housing/RentAssessmentCollection/Howismyrentcalculated/

http://www.clarecoco.ie/housing/council-housing/housing-rents/#a1
(17% afaik)

http://www.lcc.ie/Housing/FAQ/Rents.htm

Just a few examples. It varies around the country.

Piste

It's a nice idea, take the empty properties and use them as social housing, but if we want to get people working for themselves and back on their own two feet it really isn't feasible as a lot of these estates are in the commuter belt of Dublin with no employment in the immediate area and requiring a car (which is expensive to both buy and use) to go to work or drop kids to school.

Kurz

IrishAm wrote: »

Exactly. The poor sap who already lives in one of these ghost estates wouldn't be best pleased if the council started housing people for free and him having to get up at 7am every morning to finance his mortgage.

So we should build public policy on the basis that we don't want to offend some poor sap that bought into the housing boom? That's an issue for the banks and everyone else involved in the resolution of cheap credit.

Biggins

Piste wrote: »

It's a nice idea, take the empty properties and use them as social housing, but if we want to get people working for themselves and back on their own two feet it really isn't feasible as a lot of these estates are in the commuter belt of Dublin with no employment in the immediate area and requiring a car (which is expensive to both buy and use) to go to work or drop kids to school.

...But don't we have loadsa money to waste on public transport: Just four people on board new train route costing €250,000 a year to run.

O' wait - thats only if it runs through a ministers constituent area and he might fear being not re-elected next time!
I wonder why he might think that! I have no idea... :rolleyes:

mikemac1

Leave Alan Kelly alone, he's working for the area

Getting a new bridge across the Shannon, cycle lanes and money for roads too
And money for a pedestrian route on the bypass outside town, handy for the walkers

Top man

Biggins

mikemac1 wrote: »

Leave Alan Kelly alone, he's working for the area

Getting a new bridge across the Shannon, cycle lanes and money for roads too
And money for a pedestrian route on the bypass outside town, handy for the walkers

Top man

As a national elected representative he should be working for the nation.
The local stuff should be left to local representatives - after all thats what they are there for and getting paid/expenses for.

Jester252

Well are they not owned by NAMA?

Biggins

Jester252 wrote: »

Well are they not owned by NAMA?

Some are.
One was recently auctioned off by them.

The Irish problem: Ghost Estates. The Irish solution: yet another quango!
See: http://namawinelake.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/the-irish-problem-ghost-estates-the-irish-solution-yet-another-quango/

...as far as I can see, one of the first priorities for this new Government appears to have been to create new quangos, and the Government is fooling no-one by calling them “committees” or Special Delivery Units.

mikemac1

Biggins wrote: »

As a national elected representative he should be working for the nation.

Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport with special responsibility for Public and Commuter Transport.

That is his job
All those projects fall under transport, tourism and sport

Biggins

mikemac1 wrote: »

Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport with special responsibility for Public and Commuter Transport.

That is his job
All those projects fall under transport, tourism and sport

Aye - on a national level.

delta_bravo

Petca4 wrote: »

Keep putting up excuses, who pays, middle of nowhere blah blah blah.
So its better to have perfectly good houses rotting away.
Jesus Christ

Why do companies often destroy old stock instead of giving it away for free? Because it's not within a capitalist system to give away stuff for free, even if it has no potential value.

Chucken

Biggins wrote: »

Aye - on a national level.

So would it ok if it was inside the Pale?

Biggins

Chucken wrote: »

So would it ok if it was inside the Pale?

A part of Ireland that was directly under the control of the English government in the late Middle Ages?
What?

Chucken

Biggins wrote: »

A part of Ireland that was directly under the control of the English government in the late Middle Ages?
What?

Well you seem to think that Alan Kelly is guilty of parish pump politics.
Last time I looked Limerick Junction and Ballybrophy were part of the Nation.
Therefore,he is doing his job.
Anyway thats all off topic.

the_syco

Petca4 wrote: »

So its better to have perfectly good houses rotting away.

No. Because thee are houses in the countryside, most of which don't have anything inside them. Or outside them. Or anything nearby. Or any shops nearby. The CC would probably have to build a 200km of footpaths to the nearest shops, schools, etc, so people can walk to it safely, as some of them won't have cars, and public transport is sh|te.

Petca4 wrote: »

We are paying for them (property tax etc)

IIRC, you only pay that tax when someone moves into it?

Chucken wrote: »

Last time I looked Limerick Junction and Ballybrophy were part of the Nation.

Lots of money into a barely used function, no money into a much needed function. Part of his job indeed :pac:

IrishAm

Chucken wrote: »

So would it ok if it was inside the Pale?

If a public transport route is rarely used by commuters inside the Pale, the route is scrapped.

Us denizens of the Pale aren't conspiring against you.:rolleyes:

Biggins

Chucken wrote: »

Well you seem to think that Alan Kelly is guilty of parish pump politics.

Let me see...

...And how did this come about? By non-recorded or logged phones calls initially and a serious lack of documentation. Permission to run the service was granted just 90 minutes after the NTA (National Transport Authority) was formally approached by Iarnrod Eireann about the matter on February 17!

“As a public representative, he did pass on concerns about local rail matters to Irish Rail as he is entitled to do and is elected to do,” a statement said

Do I think Alan Kelly is guilty of parish pump politics? I suspect it might be partly the case.
I will leave the public to decide and not take the thread off topic further.

My point was that we seem to have load of money to throw away on public transport when it suits for very little return - yet we cannot supply basic services (never mind new expensive trains) to these ghost estates which then might be made more useful and viable for living in.

nice_very

mikemac1 wrote: »

Leave Alan Kelly alone, he's working for the area

Getting a new bridge across the Shannon, cycle lanes and money for roads too
And money for a pedestrian route on the bypass outside town, handy for the walkers

Top man

did he fix the road too?

Prometheus

When started this thread was very annoyed over this, so apologies to anyone I may have been rude to. What I was wondering was, if I squatted in one of these empty houses, what would the owners, if they can be found, in the country or not delclared bankrupt can do.
I have never broken the law in my life, just to let you know, and will probably never carry this out, but just what if ????

woodoo

We should demolish the unsuitable ghost housing. Its just going to rot and be an eye sore as it is.

starbelgrade

Petca4 wrote: »

When started this thread was very annoyed over this, so apologies to anyone I may have been rude to. What I was wondering was, if I squatted in one of these empty houses, what would the owners, if they can be found, in the country or not delclared bankrupt can do.
I have never broken the law in my life, just to let you know, and will probably never carry this out, but just what if ????

Squatters only gain rights after a period of 12 years. If you weren't turfed out by then - which is highly unlikely - it is still unlikely that the property would ever fall into your ownership uncontested.