Buyers blame Louth council for delays at Ardee affordable housing scheme
Buyers in a new affordable housing scheme in Ardee are blaming Louth County Council for delays in getting the keys to their homes, councillors were told at this month’s meeting of the Ardee Municipal District.
Cllr Jim Tenanty said he had been contacted by several purchasers who had secured homes in the Quarry Court development but were still unable to move in.
“They are asking what the delay is in them being able to occupy the house,” he said. “They said it was the council’s fault.”
Declan Grimes, Senior Engineer (Housing) at Louth County Council, said the scheme comprises 11 units, all of which have been sold. He explained that the council had followed the full affordable housing process, including assessing buyers’ mortgage arrangements.
He said the development had originally been purchased as turnkey housing, but the council later opted to “flip it” it into an Affordable Housing Scheme because the units represented strong value for money.
Mr Grimes said the council had engaged with all prospective buyers and that “contracts [are] signed on a lot of those houses”. However, delays arose when some purchasers arranged their own independent snagging inspections before finalising the sale.
“We are going through a lot of these snag items now,” he said. “Some are quite small, but nonetheless buyers expect those works to be completed.”
Most of the issues have now been resolved, he added, and “there should be no reason why a lot of these are not closing soon, or are closed already.”
He committed to providing councillors with a full breakdown of how many sales at Quarry Court have been completed to date.