Banks must be made take responsibility for houses they repossess says Grealish

From being worth a million to being left a wreck.

By Kernan Andrews

If the banks are determined to repossess houses then they have a duty to maintain the buildings and not let them become sites for anti-social behaviour.

This is the view of Independent Galway West TD Noel Grealish, who has been prompted to make his call on the basis of the state of a house in the Galway area, which is currently in the possession of a bank but has since been vandalised.

“A number of years ago this house was worth in the region of €1 million and since it was repossessed, its fixings have been stripped away, windows and doors have been broken, the house has been completely vandalised and it is the scene of wild parties,” said Dep Grealish.

“There is no contact point for neighbours about this property and this is only one of a huge number of communities with this problem.”

However Dep Grealish said that this case is simply one of many.

“There has been a huge increase in the number of houses which are lying empty as a result of repossession across the country and these houses are continuing to lapse into disrepair,” he said. “The situation is only going to get worse as time goes on.”

Dep Grealish has written to the main banks asking THAT they outline how they propose to maintain and secure these properties.

The Carnmore based TD believes this requires legislation to ensure the banks take responsibility for their properties. As a result he will be contacting the Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan and asking for legislation to be brought forward in the autumn.