Anyone living in Heathfield, Finglas with comments on the area ?

dublin8681

Thinking of moving to Heathfield, Finglas and just wondering if anyone lives there and has any comments on the estate/area ?

marvin42

i am working in cappagh hospital, just across the street and see the houses every day.
not a place i would like to live, some of the empty houses getting vandalized regularly, windows smashed etc.....
The street in front of it is a a abandoned construction side, and far away from
shops...

dublin8681

Yeah I did notice a couple of smashed windows but this generally happens in unoccupied houses during construction so didn't think that was anything to base decision on. Like currently living in dublin 15 and to be honest every area has its bad points in this day and age. Do you live near this area?

marvin42

i just work there, and would not like to live there.

January

Close proximity to the girls secondary school is great if you have a daughter. It's a good school. Otherwise... I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole... It's a ghost estate, unfinished, no amenities in it, nearest shop is a 10 minute walk away.

dublin8681

Thanks for the replies..... I still havent heard of anything bad happening in the area ... just bad things about the area and its appearance...so if anyone else has anything to add please do looking for as much info as possible

gurramok

A simple Googling throws up ongoing issues on the estate. http://www.neighbours.ie/forums/showthread.php/23162-Issues

Add to it, I would not live there due to it's location beside certain small neighbourhoods nearby.

riclad

Maybe you at other houses ,in finglas ,in complete estates no management charge.
look for estates private,or a small council estate where 99 per cent
have been bought out by tenant .
you,ll have to pay a property tax next year anyway.
my friend lives in an old council estate in finglas,its fine,quiet ,
all the houses were bought from the council,by the tenants.
AN estate with empty houses,boarded up houses is best avoided.
i would say most places shop is maybe ten minutes,away
planning regs dont usually allow shops in the middle of most estates .

HoopsUnited2

I actually live there and I can tell you it's a lovely quiet estate. Everyone is really friendly we have a committee who set up summer parties for the kids and who are in touch about all the issues with the site as it is.

Yes it is a ghost estate and with that comes it's problems of vandalism but we do have 24 hour security and the police do regular sweeps also.

To say it's situated by a rough area is fair enough but nobody comes into the estate causing trouble. As we don't march down to their area to cause trouble either.

There are a few ongoing issues the road outside is not finished, the shop we were promised still not built - all these issues are being looked at. Until all the development is sold your going to have these little battles.

People putting up comments who don't actually live there and are judging by a few smashed windows should keep their opinions to themselves.

I would recommend you drive up some saturday or sunday and have a walk around - see for yourself.

Hope this was of some help.

whippet

HoopsUnited2 wrote: »

Yes it is a ghost estate and with that comes it's problems of vandalism but we do have 24 hour security and the police do regular sweeps also.



There are a few ongoing issues the road outside is not finished, the shop we were promised still not built - all these issues are being looked at. Until all the development is sold your going to have these little battles.

in 2012 these are reasons not to buy in a particular estate, gone are the days when buyers were lucky to get any house any where !!

With in a couple of minutes drive there are countless houses for sale in estates which don't have any of the problems which you have identified and my own personal opinion is that someone would be mad to even consider buying in an unfinished estate as the chances of the estate ever being finished are almost zero.

HoopsUnited2

With in a couple of minutes drive there are countless houses for sale in estates which don't have any of the problems which you have identified and my own personal opinion is that someone would be mad to even consider buying in an unfinished estate as the chances of the estate ever being finished are almost zero.

Exactly it depends on what your looking for I personally wouldn't buy a house in a run down part of finglas or blanch just because it's 'finished'. The estate to me is finished yes theirs problems with the road - i can drive over it and i can walk over it therefore it dosen't effect my life. There is no shop so i drive or walk 15 minutes to the shop - again no big deal. The empty houses are being broken into - there is security and police are working on this - they are not touching my home so it dosen't effect me.

They are highly rated insulated houses well built and in a quiet lovely estate - when i was buying that was my priority when looking. I'm just saying don't let the other issues put you off.

January

I suggest you look in Glenhill OP. Lovely estate, quiet and houses are well built.

anto9

HoopsUnited2 wrote: »

With in a couple of minutes drive there are countless houses for sale in estates which don't have any of the problems which you have identified and my own personal opinion is that someone would be mad to even consider buying in an unfinished estate as the chances of the estate ever being finished are almost zero.

Exactly it depends on what your looking for I personally wouldn't buy a house in a run down part of finglas or blanch just because it's 'finished'. The estate to me is finished yes theirs problems with the road - i can drive over it and i can walk over it therefore it dosen't effect my life. There is no shop so i drive or walk 15 minutes to the shop - again no big deal. The empty houses are being broken into - there is security and police are working on this - they are not touching my home so it dosen't effect me.

They are highly rated insulated houses well built and in a quiet lovely estate - when i was buying that was my priority when looking. I'm just saying don't let the other issues put you off.

Any ,lets call them Native scanny horse People living near by ?.Somebody hinted earlier there were .

dublin8681

Thanks guys for getting back to me, was up there recently and actually seems to be a good few houses in the estate been worked on - so appears to be a few people moving in soon...... Anyone know how long the security is staying there? would they be gone as soon as there are no empty houses ?

gurramok

dublin8681 wrote: »

Anyone know how long the security is staying there? would they be gone as soon as there are no empty houses ?

Most likely. Seriously doubt you will have security on site managed by the Management Company, it doesn't happen that often for finished housing estates. Ask the vendor's estate agents for a definite answer or the neighbours if you intend to buy there?

dublin8681

Thanks again guys for the info

gurramok wrote: »

Most likely. Seriously doubt you will have security on site managed by the Management Company, it doesn't happen that often for finished housing estates. Ask the vendor's estate agents for a definite answer or the neighbours if you intend to buy there?

athtrasna

gurramok wrote: »

Most likely. Seriously doubt you will have security on site managed by the Management Company, it doesn't happen that often for finished housing estates.

You'd want very deep pockets for that. Full time security would mean a minimum of 4 employees to cover the post - 4 x annual salary + employer levies, PRSI etc. That's more than double the entire budget for our estate. Even CCTV could prove prohibitively expensive based on the layout of the development.

OP I would be a little nervous about flooding if you're looking at houses towards the road. There was a serious amount of water on the road this morning just past the entrance.

HoopsUnited2

There won't be security once the estate is sold as it won't be needed. The houses are being targeted for building supplies once theres people living in them they'll no longer be a target.

The road outside the esate has severe drainage issues I think that's an ongoing dispute with Fingal. The houses are a good bit back from the main road anyway.

Inside the estate some of the streets can get large puddles but that's as bad as it gets. There's actually some work going on the drains in the estate this morning.

dublin8681

Yes I seen that there was some work been done and manholes were opened up a few weeks ago.... well from what I have heard a good few houses have sold recently and there's only few houses left so hopefully if all houses sell the management company might do something with the puddles on roads etc....

Carpentry

Any news about Heathfield Estate ? Have an option moving in there and wondering if it's safe ?

Jed and Dave

went to have a look at these a while back, was brought to the showhouse which looked nice and then to an unfinished house, found the standard of workmanship in the unfinished house quite disturbing really, timber frame on the inside- lots of gaps in the isulation between timber studs, lots of cold bridging as inner leaf stud was not isulated over (i asked the foreman what they put over the stud- he said plasterboard) but sure you wouldent see that in the finished house-on paper they might be an A rating BER but i personally would be very sceptical after that vist-but im sure you could say that about most developers houses. fingal coco dont seem to pushed about getitng the road finished either.

athtrasna

Carpentry wrote: »

Any news about Heathfield Estate ? Have an option moving in there and wondering if it's safe ?

Check with the council about the properties they own in the development. A friend lives there and I know that there have been meetings between residents and the council about plans to move a large number of families from a certain group into the area that had the neighbours up in arms.

on_my_oe

I see that athtrasna mentioned in 2012 about flooding and drainage issues, I'd say the issues are still present - there was plenty of water today, and I'm sure I recall an article about the TD or councillor grandstanding about drainage six months

January

The issues are definitely still present.

Carpentry

January wrote: »

The issues are definitely still present.

Do you by any chance live there ?

January

Carpentry wrote: »

Do you by any chance live there ?

No, but I have a friend living there. I've also got a friend living in Dunsoghly and they have flooding problems also from the building of Heathfield and the secondary school is suffering badly too (I went there and there was no flooding in the time I was there but plenty now).

Carpentry

I was there yesterday and seemed ok. You can get a flooding anywhere nowadays.
My question is more about safety, transportation and getting around in general.

athtrasna

Carpentry wrote: »

I was there yesterday and seemed ok. You can get a flooding anywhere nowadays.
My question is more about safety, transportation and getting around in general.

Talk to the council and neighbours. If the plans I've heard materialise you couldn't pay me to live there

January

The council will admit nothing of the sort. Even if it is true.

Transportation, two busses pass it, the 17a to blanchardstown/kilbarrack and the 40d to city centre/tyrellstown.

I can't comment on safety because I don't live there.

fletch

I'm not sure how comfortable I would be living between these two places, here and here. I know that's slightly prejudiced but these minority groups don't tend to look after their neighbourhood, see across the road (Note: This was cleaned up the last time I jogged by).
I went to look at these a few years ago and they were perfect (being an affordable new house in the suburbs with a front and back garden and a driveway, hard to find in a new home in 2008!) only for their location, I probably would have bought.

chopper6

fletch wrote: »

I'm not sure how comfortable I would be living between these two places, here and here. I know that's slightly prejudiced but these minority groups don't tend to look after their neighbourhood, see across the road (Note: This was cleaned up the last time I jogged by).
I went to look at these a few years ago and they were perfect (being an affordable new house in the suburbs with a front and back garden and a driveway, hard to find in a new home in 2008!) only for their location, I probably would have bought.

The place will improve only when they kick the travellers out of the area...mind you the Govt tends to pay them to move on somewhere else.

I wouldt buy in this area for that reason alone...if you want to move to finglas there are plenty of houses in mature areas avaialble for quite cheap at the moment. Finglas still has some bargains but not in new builds and certainly not in this development.

Carpentry

The house that I was looking at it's really well build and equipped and seemed like a good deal. We both have cars and I guess there in no point to walk anywhere as there is nothing around. If you need to go to shop Blanch Centre is close enough and there is Charlestown with Lidl and Aldi nearby, also Tesco Clearwater.
I am bit concerned about noise coming from M50, you don't want to sit in your back garden in the summer and listen to a cars passing by all the time.

Dimsimio

I live in Heathfield. Some of the points mentioned are a bit dated. We bought here in 2008 and I have to say we have a fantastic community. Not like most new estates were people don't don't get to know each other. Every August we hold a fun day for our kids and hire 6 bouncy castles an entertainer,Dj, and a BBQ for the adults. We keep our estate clean and look out for one another. Yes the road is a problem and yes the unfinished houses are a problem. At the moment there are 3 builders investing 3.5 million into Heathfield . In the plans are a nursing home and four commercial units, NO apartments. And I have the m50 behind me and I never ever heard the m50... I can see it in the distance but I can't hear it. All of the problems mentions can be fixed and are being fixed. A good community is so important. So many lovely families here 😊

hex84

Hi, I heard that Fingal County Council have planing permission for building social houses to be provided to traveller group.
Wondering when that will happen? That's absolutely mad!
New estate have already many antisocial behaviour from them..

Dimsimio

Thank God this was sorted... Yes we did all believed this was going yo be the case. And the builder told Fingal he would withdraw his 3.5million investment if they proceeded with such plans. The builder and several elected residents had two meetings with Fingal and counsellors. The conclusion was that yes there will be social housing built on the site but it will hand a separate enterance and a different name and will most defiantly not be accomdating people all from "the one family". Fine Fail and Fine Gael TDs stood behind us...

hex84

An investigation is under way following a robbery in Finglas in Dublin last night during which a family were tied up and threatened with guns.

Two men armed with a shotgun and a knife broke into the house on Heathfield Way at around 10.30pm.


Two men and two women in their 40s along with three children were in the house at the time.

The men left the scene in a dark coloured car with a small amount of cash.

Two of the men who were in the house at the time were treated at Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown for minor injuries.

It doesn't look good
I was thinking to buy a house in Heathfield but thinks like that realy put me off.

Gumbo

hex84 wrote: »

An investigation is under way following a robbery in Finglas in Dublin last night during which a family were tied up and threatened with guns.

Two men armed with a shotgun and a knife broke into the house on Heathfield Way at around 10.30pm.


Two men and two women in their 40s along with three children were in the house at the time.

The men left the scene in a dark coloured car with a small amount of cash.

Two of the men who were in the house at the time were treated at Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown for minor injuries.

It doesn't look good
I was thinking to buy a house in Heathfield but thinks like that realy put me off.

It was seemly a case of mistaken identity. They could have easily followed somebody to their home in Georgian Village, Castleknock.

Buy where you feel comfortable, not because of isolated incidents.

Dimsimio

These type of raids can happen in the poshest parts of Ireland. It's usually people with money who are targeted and robbed in a such manner. These people own a restaurant and a shop. Anyway I think you should scratch Heathfield off your list because your having doubts. Best off looking else where

Muahahaha

Wasn't this the area of Cappagh that had traveller riots last year? And now a kidnapping on top, not a safe place to live IMO. They might be isolated incidents but it doesn't do anyone any confidence when its going on on your doorstep.

riclad

IS ,nt there crime in every working class estate in ireland,
you can,t judge an area by 1 incident.
i know people who are very happy to live in finglas .
look for a private estate ,or an old council estate where 98 per cent of the houses are owned by the person living there .
An estate where the average age is 30 plus,
most antisocial behavior, petty crime, is done by teens under 18,

A BAD estate will have teens hanging round on street corners,
trees vandalised ,lots of litter,graffiti all over the place.
There,s obvious signs you can see .

Think older,mature area,estate,
99 per cent of houses ,not owned by council,
if you want to be conservative about it.
i don,t know heathfield ,so i cant give advice on that estate.
but i know about 6 people who have lived in finglas since 1980.

Melisandre

My partner and I bought a house in Heathfield last year and have been living here for 7.5 months. I would definitely agree with previous comments that Finglas West is a complete culture shock if you are not from an area like this. Here's a list of pro's/cons just based on my personal experience:

*Very affordable for young first time buyers/families who want to get on the ladder but don't want to settle for an apartment
*Brand new and spacious with front and back gardens in some
*Very short drive to Blanchardstown S.C
*Really energy efficient so far for us our heat+elec averages at 120 every second month
*Lots of friendly people living in the estate itself and a good sense of community spirit- when the robbery happened two ladies done a collection for the family in question


*The area I think is the biggest con-not so much Heathfield itself but Finglas West in general as you have to venture through it to get to the village or any shops there are a lot of gangs of youths hanging around the shops, plenty of people on horses trotting around and it is not very aesthetically pleasing at all
*The minority groups are a little bit down the road but recently there have been large feuds spilling out onto Cappagh Road resulting in police etc. they generally fight amongst themselves however and as it is quite a bit down the road u don't actually experience this unless you have to drive through it
*I can confirm that the plans to move some minority groups have gone ahead as there are two families living on our road alone- I definitely would have liked to be made aware of this before buying
*Some of the kids in the estate definitely lack basic manners they will openly glare into your windows while you sit watching TV, they ask several personal questions anytime they see you and will proceed to continuously knock on your door asking if you have kids even though you have repeatedly told them no and will come into the garden on their bikes/scooters brushing off cars which is quite frustrating
*I wouldn't exactly describe the houses as high quality there have been several problems in terms of plumbing and sealing around sinks baths etc. the show house did seem to be of much higher quality than ours.

All in all if you like Finglas then you will probably love it here but I do find the area to be a major culture shock and if I were to be buying again I would go for something in a nicer part of D.15 rather than here but I am grateful that it is a brand new house and the mortgage is low but I definitely wouldn't settle here and even more so would not like to raise a family here.

jmike72

Reviving this thread to ask how are things in Heatfield?

I've passed by some weeks ago on Cappagh road just to have an idea about Heatfield and even that it looked nice, the houses just before Heatfield and the travelers site after it next to the M50 bridge didn't look too nice.

What's the experience so far from who lives there, as the last post here is almost 2y old? How are the buses to town?

You're surrounded by travellers and the walls are already spraypainted outside, I wouldn't live there.

Giuzeppe

We are living here last year and nothing bad happens so far. Very quiet estate. Nice large and warm houses.
Couple of buses at the gate.
Some shops are missing but they are at planning.

focabh

Hi,

My partner and I are buying a house there and it will be ready late October.

We would like to hear from people who live there how are the things at the moment.

Is the area nice, safe?

Are the houses ok?

I've heard some bad stories but they are all very old, so is there anything bad happening there nowadays?

Are the rats, flooding and safety issues resolved?

Also how does the management company work? Do they charge? Are they good?

Thank you!

RadioLocum

Hi all,

I created an account more so to warn others than anything else.

If thinking of buying here and your not from Finglas please be very cautious and try to go up to the area for a week or two to get a feel for it.

I work right across the road in Cappagh hospital and decided in 2018 to buy in Heathfield, being from Cabra I kind of thought how bad can it be.

The houses are really nice in my opinion, beautifully finished and very economical, mine has solar which is really great and I find saves me quite a lot.

The main issue is the area unfortunately,

my bicycle has been stolen from my back garden 4 times even when locked and with a expensive U-Lock.

My girlfriend who is a foreign national has been verbally abused on a number of occasions and was quite shaken and upset.

5 minutes away is where “Mr Flashy” and his gang are based, I am pretty sure I heard live rounds being let off before, it’s distinct and different to just normal fireworks which I’m used to.

There’s a big problem with drugs especially outside I would go as far as saying epidemic but that’s just anecdotal.

Travellers live 60 seconds away and in fairness I never had any issues at all with them but some of my neighbours have had altercations.

We could live with all that but the straw that broke the camels back was my girlfriends car being stolen, she claimed the insurance but of course her annual premiums went up multiples.

I know all these things can happen in any area but Cabra wasn’t like this in any way.

To be honest I rushed into buying this house and after doing some renovation work roughly 30k, I have decided to sell and take a hit although hopefully not to much, the estate agent didn’t seem to confident considering the Covid-19 situation.

I was blinded by the price and convenience of crossing the road for work but it’s just not worth it for a young couple especially when the discussion of raising a family arises.

I’m happy to answer any questions on the area or working in Cappagh hospital if anyone has queries.

Thanks

Peter File

RadioLocum wrote: »

Hi all,

I created an account more so to warn others than anything else.

If thinking of buying here and your not from Finglas please be very cautious and try to go up to the area for a week or two to get a feel for it.

I work right across the road in Cappagh hospital and decided in 2018 to buy in Heathfield, being from Cabra I kind of thought how bad can it be.

The houses are really nice in my opinion, beautifully finished and very economical, mine has solar which is really great and I find saves me quite a lot.

The main issue is the area unfortunately,

my bicycle has been stolen from my back garden 4 times even when locked and with a expensive U-Lock.

My girlfriend who is a foreign national has been verbally abused on a number of occasions and was quite shaken and upset.

5 minutes away is where “Mr Flashy” and his gang are based, I am pretty sure I heard live rounds being let off before, it’s distinct and different to just normal fireworks which I’m used to.

There’s a big problem with drugs especially outside I would go as far as saying epidemic but that’s just anecdotal.

Travellers live 60 seconds away and in fairness I never had any issues at all with them but some of my neighbours have had altercations.

We could live with all that but the straw that broke the camels back was my girlfriends car being stolen, she claimed the insurance but of course her annual premiums went up multiples.

I know all these things can happen in any area but Cabra wasn’t like this in any way.

To be honest I rushed into buying this house and after doing some renovation work roughly 30k, I have decided to sell and take a hit although hopefully not to much, the estate agent didn’t seem to confident considering the Covid-19 situation.

I was blinded by the price and convenience of crossing the road for work but it’s just not worth it for a young couple especially when the discussion of raising a family arises.

I’m happy to answer any questions on the area or working in Cappagh hospital if anyone has queries.

Thanks
'''''''l

Very informative post, but you should edit it to take your name out of the post.

RadioLocum

Peter File wrote: »

Very informative post, but you should edit it to take your name out of the post.

Thanks Peter,

Didn’t think anyone who would have an issue with this post would be roaming boards but your correct better safe than sorry.

Muahahaha

RadioLocum wrote: »

To be honest I rushed into buying this house and after doing some renovation work roughly 30k, I have decided to sell and take a hit although hopefully not to much, the estate agent didn’t seem to confident considering the Covid-19 situation.

I was blinded by the price and convenience of crossing the road for work but it’s just not worth it for a young couple especially when the discussion of raising a family arises.

sorry to hear of your troubles and that you now have to sell to get out of there. I had a friend who like yourself bought in Healthfield and was impressed by the quality of the homes and like yourself rushed into the purchase as house prices were rising and she felt that she would get priced out of the Dublin market altogether. She regretted it after 2 weeks of living there and sold out about six months later. The anti social behaviour was just too much, her car broken into and she didnt feel safe living there.


That was a few years back so I can only imagine the area has gone further downhill with Flashys gang operating and all sorts of lowlifes hanging around. Its hard to see how that area is going to improve anytime soon.


I think it shows the importance of visiting an area several times before you buy there and especially visiting at night. Also asking the local Gardai about a street can give good information and finally googling the name of streets in the area and put 'court' after the search terms will throw up the local criminals (if any).



Anyway I hope your next house is a lot more peaceful that what you suffered in Heathfield

Nijmegen

I'm sorry for your experience, RadioLocum. This thread might stand as a bit of a warning for Buyer Beware alright. I'm from D15 but a lot of a family connection to Finglas and know the area well enough. Even if you didn't know about the criminal elements in the area, the concentration of scrap yards and similar long established sites nearby on a drive around should raise a red flag.

When choosing an area to live in it's wise to do things like Google criminal court cases that usually include the address of the person concerned. Eg if you do a search for Criminal Conviction Address "Finglas" (the quotation marks tells Google a search result must include this term) you'll get a lot of street addresses you can map on.

The first page of results has stories about violent criminals, homes with bullet proof windows, gangland shootings etc etc.

Do the same search for, say, Ongar and the first result is about a one legged war veteran who assaulted airport staff after they assumed he was drunk, another about someone who damaged a Monet painting. Yes there are violent cases, but to be honest if you search for leafy Castleknock you'll hear cases of people killing and eating their house mate. But the point is that you can get a feel for the area and what it's like from the nature and frequency of the incidences you read about.

It's then good to do things like ask opinions of people you know as well as online, treating them on a sliding scale of how much weight you give to each. If you know any Guards they can offer you a perhaps more informed opinion based on being bold and looking at Pulse for you. Then there's the good old "go up on a saturday night".

Again sorry for your trouble.

Gael23

Was looking at Finglas as an option until I read this. First time buyer doing it on my own so I have 220k absolute max.

Looks like there is a reason Finglas is affordable