Tenants still paying rent to council in Louth despite moving to nursing homes, meeting hears
A number of social housing tenants in Louth who have moved into nursing homes are still paying rent on their council homes despite no longer living in the properties, councillors were told at April’s meeting of the Ardee Municipal District.
Cllr Jim Tenanty said he had been contacted about three separate cases in which tenants had gone into long‑term care, yet “money was still coming out of their bank accounts” to pay rent to Louth County Council.
He added that several houses in Ardee appear to be lying vacant because former tenants had moved into nursing homes but had not officially declared that they had left the property.
He asked whether the council follows up with families or care providers to ensure such homes “are not lying vacant for a long time when someone could be living in them.”
The meeting heard that the council has now appointed a new Vacant Homes Officer, who will take responsibility for identifying and addressing empty local authority units across the county.
Senior Engineer for Housing, Declan Grimes, said the council can “engage” with families in circumstances where a tenant has moved into a nursing home for long‑term care, with a view to “taking properties back” for reallocation.
He said the local authority can use a statutory process to return such homes to use, but noted that managing the county’s stock of nearly 5,000 social housing units is a substantial challenge.
“It is difficult to monitor the status of every single house,” he said, adding that any specific cases raised by councillors help the council investigate and act more quickly.
Mr Grimes asked Cllr Tenanty to provide more details on the three cases he highlighted so the housing team could follow up.