Behind statistics for Leitrim's unoccupied homes lie a culture of underutilisation, definitions of what’s habitable and family reluctance to sell
“We have sold a few of them already and most, if not all, were cash sales,” Spring says. “We find UK buyers still come here for the rural properties because in the UK you cannot buy a rural property for less than £200,000. We are the poor man’s Cornwall. They could get a cottage and a few acres here for under €100,000.”
The council says it is “acutely aware” of the number of vacant properties in Co Leitirm, particularly in towns and villages, and sees “their reuse as a key component of the county’s regeneration”. He says that while tax incentives linked to housing became “a dirty word”, with the Upper Shannon Rural Renewal Scheme introduced in the late 1990s being blamed for a plethora of ghost estates, there is a case to be made for targeted tax breaks for people renovating derelict properties in small towns, villages and rural areas.
Even when old houses sit empty for years, he believes sentimentality and practical issues combine to prevent families from selling them on. “There is a feeling of ‘they can do what they want when I am gone but I won’t be the one to sell the old house’,” he says. Due to the fact many of the vacant properties in his areas are on farms, he believes simply selling them on is not as straightforward as it seems.
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