Reporting a Vacant House.
Carlow County Council want to raise awareness around the issue of vacant homes and to seek the public’s help in addressing this matter. If you are aware of an empty/vacant home in County Carlow, please tell us and efforts will be made to if possible bring this property back into use. This will also help towards meeting Ireland’s housing need in an environmentally sustainable manner.
We encourage members of the public in Carlow to make use of this facility and to report vacant properties to us at the following link - www.vacanthomes.ie
This website allows the public to make anonymous reports (although you can give your contact details if you wish). This website is run by Mayo County Council but all reports relating to County Carlow are forwarded to Carlow County Council.
Alternatively email us directly at: vacanthomes@carlowcoco.ie
All reports are investigated.
Don’t assume that we know about a vacant house – it may not have been reported or otherwise have come to our attention.
What will Carlow County Council do about a vacant house?
We will investigate to establish:
- Is the house long term vacant?
- What are the circumstances?
- Who owns the house?
If we can identify an owner, we will attempt to engage with that owner with a view to bringing the house back into use. We will make the owner aware of various schemes and initiatives to help them do that, e.g.
- Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant
- Repair & Lease Scheme
- Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS)
- Housing Assistance Payment (HAP)
If those attempts are not successful then we will make use of Statutory powers to compulsorily acquire the property under the following legislation:
- Derelict Sites Act 1990
- Housing Act 1966
Carlow County Councils Regeneration Office has carried out a Data Vacancy Survey of the County and are in the process of engaging with registered owners to ascertain their proposals for the properties. In some cases the CPO process is being used to acquire properties where no communication is received from owners.