A new grant of up to €30,000 to help people who buy derelict properties to renovate and live in is to be announced soon by the Government, the Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has said.
Mr O’Brien is planning to launch the financial support to tackle dereliction as part of a range of measures aimed at bringing more families into towns and villages.
“Vacancy is an untapped resource that we should be using,” he said.
Minister Darragh O’Brien said the grant of between €20,000 and €30,000 to encourage first-time buyers to purchase derelict properties will be announced at some stage before April this year.
Talking about its merits, he said: “So a lot of potential first-time buyers are out there who see properties on the main streets of our towns and villages and indeed are looking at them saying if I had a little bit of assistance I could buy there I could live there.” He added that the new grant would act as a significant incentive to bring these houses back to life.
The full information’s of the scheme have yet to be finalized, but it is expected that the funds will be access through local authorities towards renovation and other costs – similar to the Help To Buy grant for new homes