Council tenant housing

leedslad

Cllr Brogan has been on the airwaves this weekend beating the drum for council tenants who he says are being denied the opportunity to buy their houses outright. A council colleague agrees that "We need to be imaginative in meeting the needs of people out there. We need to release and build more houses. Nothing wrong with this I say........ Then this cynical voice in my ear is heard saying, Isn't the same Cllr Brogan the owner of Sark Construction? The company awarded the contract for building 28 Council houses in Dungloe?
http://donegalnow.com/sp/article_manager/detail/questions_raised_about_481m_dungloe_housing_contract_2
Then I shake myself out of it and think.this is Donegal.... this sort of thing doesn't happen up here.

echo beach

leedslad wrote: »

We need to be imaginative in meeting the needs of people out there. We need to release and build more houses.

What colleague said we need to build more houses? Look around. Donegal has the highest percentage of unoccupied housing units in the country. What we need are people to live in the houses we have and jobs for them to do so they can stay here.

gowley

echo beach wrote: »

What colleague said we need to build more houses? Look around. Donegal has the highest percentage of unoccupied housing units in the country. What we need are people to live in the houses we have and jobs for them to do so they can stay here.

letrim longford roscommon and cavan have more than donegal

mistermouse

Strangely Council tennants are in the main exempt from the property tax, despite getting more from local authorities than others.

Surely if they have money to buy their homes, they should be eligible at present to contribute to the property tax.

muffler

mistermouse wrote: »

Strangely Council tennants are in the main exempt from the property tax, despite getting more from local authorities than others.

Surely if they have money to buy their homes, they should be eligible at present to contribute to the property tax.

Anyone who owns a house is liable for the property tax. I'm not sure of the point you are making.

Noreen1

I seem to remember reading that County Councils are liable for the property tax, and intend to pass the costs on to their tenants.

Which sort of makes the idea that it's a tax on to so-called "wealth" of owning your property a moot point.

I can't remember where I read it, it was in one of the online newspapers lately, though.

muffler

Noreen1 wrote: »

I seem to remember reading that County Councils are liable for the property tax, and intend to pass the costs on to their tenants.

Which sort of makes the idea that it's a tax on to so-called "wealth" of owning your property a moot point.

I can't remember where I read it, it was in one of the online newspapers lately, though.

This may be what you seen/read

8. Can a local authority pass on the cost of LPT to its tenants in increased rents?

It will be a matter for the local authority to decide whether it will pass on the LPT liability to its tenants in the form of an increase in rent or whether it will absorb the liability without recourse to its tenants.

Taken from here

Noreen1

muffler wrote: »

This may be what you seen/read Taken from here

No. I'd read that before.

It was in one of the newspapers. Maybe the examiner?

I'll have a look later on, and see if I can find it.

Noreen1

Here we go.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/councils-set-to-pass-on-90-bill-to-housing-tenants-29146897.html

COUNCIL tenants face the prospect of being hit with a property tax bill as cash-strapped local authorities are charged €11.5m from January.



Each city and county council is expected to pay €90 for each property it owns – and housing minister Jan O'Sullivan said this can be passed on to people living in the properties.

It goes on to (more or less) say that the decision will be left to individual councils.
Realistically, I doubt if there are many Councils that will refuse extra revenue.

leedslad

This thread wasn't meant to be about the payment of LPT by Council tenants

Noreen1

Back on topic.

I've been hearing rumours about different Councillors, and indeed TDs, for years, who have a marked conflict of interest, to put it politely.

Proving it is another matter entirely, and without proof, I'm afraid, there's not really a great deal we can discuss.

muffler

leedslad wrote: »

This thread wasn't meant to be about the payment of LPT by Council tenants

Perhaps you could clarify what it is for as you raised 3 different points in your first post and provided a link to a story that is 20 months old

leedslad

muffler wrote: »

Perhaps you could clarify what it is for as you raised 3 different points in your first post and provided a link to a story that is 20 months old

I was looking for views and opinions regarding Cllr Brogans muses last weekend about making it easier for Council tenants to own their own homes.
I didn't mention LPT in my post and although the story about Sark and the Dungloe housing project isn't new, I was just seeking feedback on whether his latest views could be regarded as being a conflict of intrest.

muffler

leedslad wrote: »

I was looking for views and opinions regarding Cllr Brogans muses last weekend about making it easier for Council tenants to own their own homes.

Good stuff. That is the topic then so. Have you a link to what he said?

leedslad wrote: »

I didn't mention LPT in my post and although the story about Sark and the Dungloe housing project isn't new, I was just seeking feedback on whether his latest views could be regarded as being a conflict of intrest.

I cant see what the connection is. Brogan's company has been paid for the housing development long ago and whether the tenants purchase their houses or not will result in no benefit of any kind to Brogan.

leedslad

muffler wrote: »

Good stuff. That is the topic then so. Have you a link to what he said?

Sorry i don't, it was in last Monday's Donegal News/Derry People, tried googling but couldn't find it.

muffler wrote: »

I cant see what the connection is. Brogan's company has been paid for the housing development long ago and whether the tenants purchase their houses or not will result in no benefit of any kind to Brogan.

The conflict would come into it IMO if for example he was advocating the sale of the current stock of Council housing then Sark would be in position to benefit if more needed to be built as a result

Noreen1

leedslad wrote: »

Sorry i don't, it was in last Monday's Donegal News/Derry People, tried googling but couldn't find it.

Is this any use?

http://www.highlandradio.com/2013/06/08/local-authority-needs-to-revisit-housing-loans-policy-brogan/

muffler

leedslad wrote: »

Sorry i don't, it was in last Monday's Donegal News/Derry People, tried googling but couldn't find it.

If we dont know what he said Im afraid we wont be able to discuss it

leedslad wrote: »

The conflict would come into it IMO if for example he was advocating the sale of the current stock of Council housing then Sark would be in position to benefit if more needed to be built as a result

There is absolutely no connection between tenant/purchasers of council houses and the demand for further housing. The provision of further social housing is dictated by the needs of individuals and families who are not currently tenants of council houses.

Where there is a demand for housing there is a tendering procedure in place and I dont think its fair to refer back to something that happened a couple of years ago and which was found to be acceptable. So Im afraid you got that angle all wrong.

For the record Im seeing this thread as a snide way to have a cheap shot at a politician and I'm not impressed.

leedslad

muffler wrote: »

If we dont know what he said Im afraid we wont be able to discuss it.

Fair enough, but i think Noreen's post which i see you thanked and i assume read, pretty much covers it.

muffler wrote: »

There is absolutely no connection between tenant/purchasers of council houses and the demand for further housing. The provision of further social housing is dictated by the needs of individuals and families who are not currently tenants of council houses. .

Some would differ with your view on this http://www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=53198

muffler wrote: »

For the record Im seeing this thread as a snide way to have a cheap shot at a politician and I'm not impressed.

If you see it like that, thats your perogative, all i'm trying to do is to encourage debate on the subject and i'm not particularly bothered about impressing Mod's

Noreen1

leedslad wrote: »

Some would differ with your view on this http://www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=53198

Genuinely trying to understand this point.

The issue being discussed in your link is a shortage of affordable housing.

There's an oversupply of houses in Donegal, just like the rest of the Country.

So, how do you correlate the two situations?

I'm neither trying to defend the politician in question, or otherwise, by the way!
He doesn't represent my electoral area, so I know very little about him.

I have very little respect for politicians in general - but I do try to obey Boards rules. I also generally try to avoid defamation of character suits.:P:D

muffler

leedslad wrote: »

Fair enough, but i think Noreen's post which i see you thanked and i assume read, pretty much covers it.

I suppose someone had to post something in the absence of substantive input from yourself.

leedslad wrote: »

Some would differ with your view on this http://www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=53198

Like a couple of your other posts in the thread Im at a loss to see the connection

leedslad wrote: »

If you see it like that, thats your perogative, all i'm trying to do is to encourage debate on the subject and i'm not particularly bothered about impressing Mod's

You dont have to impress anyone but if you are looking for debate then you need to be clear about what it is you wish to debate. Apart from having a dig at a politician in this thread and elsewhere I see nothing constructive posted by you and accordingly Im closing this