There are currently 30 unoccupied council house in Laois, a report from the National Oversight and Audit Commission has found.
The figure is very frustrating given that fact that there is a substantial housing waiting list in Laois.
Nationally, the report discovered that more than 3,600 council-owned homes are lying vacant – this equates to almost one in every 33 houses and apartments owned by local authorities.
The NOAC report says it takes an average of 28.9 weeks to re-let a council dwelling – but Laois actually fares very well here.
They are the second quickest local authority with eight weeks, just behind neighbours Westmeath on seven.
This compares very well with a 77 week wait in Sligo and 70 weeks in Leitrim.
“Nationally, there has been a welcome reduction in the level of vacant stock within local authorities, a trend which has continued from 2016,” the NOAC report said.
“Coupled with that, the national average re-letting time has dropped significantly since 2016, down to 28.9 weeks.”
It added that “11 local authorities have re-letting times of less than 20 weeks, with some local authorities making substantial reductions in average re-letting times”.
“There are still authorities that need to improve average times, but the current trend is very welcome,” it said.
