House in Laois village to be added to Derelict Sites Register
Timahoe bungalow in ‘horrendous condition’ to be placed on the Derelict Sites Register, with council progressing towards Compulsory Purchase Order
Laois County Council has commenced proceedings to place a house in Timahoe on the Derelict Sites Register.
Cllr Paschal McEvoy requested an update on the site, which he declared in “horrendous condition,” at the October meeting of Graiguecullen/Portarlington Municipal District.
Cllr McEvoy highlighted that the site, located on the Portlaoise Road, Timahoe, is adjoined to another house whose owner carried out successful renovations in recent times. Both sites, he said, were previously social houses owned by the council.
Cllr McEvoy stated that, when he contacted the owner of the site in question, “he told me he had no interest in talking to me or talking to Laois County Council.”
It was Cllr McEvoy’s understanding that the owner inherited the house from his father and is not living nearby.
“It should be CPO–ed and put a family into it. It’s crazy having it left there like that,” Cllr McEvoy said. “It’s an awful, awful looking site now. It’s all overgrown with bushes and everything.
“It’d be a lovely little house for some family.”
Cllr Ben Brennan added that he has been asked about the house by interested buyers.
The Derelict Sites Register, maintained by local authorities, is a public record of land that “detracts, or is likely to detract, to a material degree from the amenity, character or appearance of land in the neighbourhood of the land.”
The owners of sites on the register must pay an annual levy of 7% of the market value of the site in the first year and up to 10% in any subsequent years. The levy applies until the dereliction is rectified.
Sites on the register may also be subject to a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO). The council has issued notice of its intention to place the Timahoe site on the Derelict Sites Register. There is then “about a two-month delay” before the CPO process can commence, the council stated.
The council said it will “continue to engage with the owner in an attempt to encourage him to carry out renovations to the property.”