Defective Block properties for sale on DAFT

Does anyone know if the Government Grant Scheme for Defective Blocks (DB) is available to people who buy a Defective Block property now, or is the Grant Scheme only available to the sellers and the previous owners of the DB property?

For example, I have seen various Donegal properties for sale recently on DAFT that say they are either a DB property or on a development where there are DB properties. And the asking price for these properties is obviously well below the current market price for similar properties that are not affected by Defective Blocks.

So who is eligible for the Government Grant Scheme in this situation where someone is selling a DB house? There is a maximum grant available of €460,000. So have the people who are currently selling their DB property on DAFT at a discounted price already claimed this grant money?

And if they have already claimed the grant money, why has the remedial work not been completed yet, and why are they still selling their property as a DB property?

Is it even legal for a person to claim the DB grant money, and to then not fix the DB property, and to then try to sell sell a DB property?

Or are the people who buy the DB property now on DAFT at a discounted price still able to apply for the full Grant Scheme?

The Government are obviously not going to give full grants of up to €460,000 to both the seller of the DB property and the buyer of the DB property.

So how exactly does the Grant Scheme work where someone is selling a DB property on DAFT at a discounted price?

It would seem not. #22 of the Department FAQs say anyone who buys a a DB property after a date in 2020 is not eligible for the grant unless they can convince the local authority that they did not or could not have known it was a DB property. Screenshot attached.

Slim

Thanks for the answer

So I do not understand how these DB properties are still being sold on DAFT

Surely the current seller, or the person who bought the DB property before January 2020, has made the necessary application for a full grant to fix their property?

They should have already received the necessary funding up to a limit of €460,000 to either rebuild a new property, or to completely fix and repair their DB property

So how are these DB properties still being sold on DAFT?

Has the seller perhaps pocketed a large sum of money from the Government Grant Scheme and then not carried out the required work?

Surely it would be illegal for the seller to attempt to sell a DB property under these circumstances?

And would it not also be illegal for the estate agent and DAFT to attempt to sell a DB property under these circumstances?

Is there some kind of scam or fraud going on with these properties?

Why are these DB properties still being sold on DAFT ?

arasar said:

For example, I have seen various Donegal properties for sale recently on DAFT that say they are either a DB property or on a development where there are DB properties. And the asking price for these properties is obviously well below the current market price for similar properties that are not affected by Defective Blocks.

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Out of curiosity, what is the discount?

arasar said:

Why are these DB properties still being sold on DAFT ?

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Presumably because there is a market for them! It’s not illegal to buy or sell a defective property.

arasar said:

But it must be illegal to claim a free gift of money from the Irish Government of up to €460,000 to completely fix your DB property, and then attempt to sell that same DB property to another person without completing any of the required work

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What evidence do you have that that is or might be happening?

arasar said:

So I do not understand how these DB properties are still being sold on DAFT

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You may be looking at it wrong.

Many of them would basically be sites with full planning permission in the country for which there would effectively be no local needs condition.

No idea about Donegal but in Meath you'd be looking at a couple of hundred grand easy for a property in the country which couldbe refurbished and extended. They're like hens teeth, you basically have to wait for someone to die for one of them to come on the market.

arasar said:

But it must be illegal to claim a free gift of money from the Irish Government of up to €460,000 to completely fix your DB property,

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Why?

BIG-notorious said:

You may be looking at it wrong.

Many of them would basically be sites with full planning permission in the country for which there would effectively be no local needs condition.

No idea about Donegal but in Meath you'd be looking at a couple of hundred grand easy for a property in the country which couldbe refurbished and extended. They're like hens teeth, you basically have to wait for someone to die for one of them to come on the market.

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The properties that are currently for sale on Daft are detached and semi detached houses in Donegal that are clearly currently occupied or have been recently occupied

They are not sites with planning permission

So the question is why have the sellers of these DB properties not completed the remedial works to fix the DB problem?

It is difficult to think of any reason why the DB problems have not been fixed and why the property is still being sold with DB problems

The Government Grant Scheme only gives 5 options for claiming the grants

The first option is to demolish the whole house and rebuild

And the remaining 4 options are to demolish and rebuild the walls

After the remedial works have been completed, the property should be available to sell on DAFT without having to mention any DB problems

So is there any reason why these DB properties should still be for sale on DAFT?

Have the sellers of these DB properties not applied for the Government Grant Scheme that provides the owner with grants of up to €460,000 ?

And if they have not applied for the Grant Scheme, why have they not applied for the Scheme? It is free money from the Government up to €460,000, and so it does not make any sense why the owner of a DB property would not apply for the full grant available under the Scheme

And if they have applied for the Grant Scheme, then why has their DB property not been completely fixed and repaired? And why is their property for sale on DAFT as a DB property at a discounted price?

The money from the Government Grant Scheme is clearly only given to owners of DB properties on the understanding that they will use it to rebuild their property until it is completely free from DB problems

So if the sellers of these DB properties have applied for the Grant Scheme, what has happened to the Grant Scheme money that they were given to fix their house?

They have obviously not used it to fix their property as the property is being sold on DAFT as a DB property

arasar said:

So if the sellers of these DB properties have applied for the Grant Scheme, what has happened to the Grant Scheme money that they were given to fix their house?

They have obviously not used it to fix their property as the property is being sold on DAFT as a DB property

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Lots of "ifs" to arrive at that conclusion. As I asked before...

ClubMan said:

What evidence do you have that that is or might be happening?

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What evidence do you have that that is or might be happening?

Well the properties are for sale on DAFT and they are being sold as DB properties at a discounted price

So is it not fairly obvious that the remedial works have either never been started or never completed?

So what has happened to the Grant Scheme money that the sellers of these DB properties were entitled to receive?