Michael Fitzmaurice raises Galway City Council delays in RAS sales
Michael Fitzmaurice raised concerns about homeowners who followed procedures to sell their houses but report that Galway City Council has stopped responding, leaving sales stalled. He asked that a transcript of the issue be sent to the Minister for Housing and requested that deputies provide full case details.
Michael Fitzmaurice outlined cases in which owners who had given proper notice and complied with the stated timeframes of eight to ten months — and in some instances over a year — had not received replies from Galway City Council and did not know the status of their property sales.
He said the lack of response appears to be happening frequently in Galway City Council, with owners reporting unanswered emails and uncertainty about whether any change in thinking or legislation related to RAS had affected the process.
A deputy replied that he was not aware of any legislative change. Michael Fitzmaurice asked that the transcript of the remarks be sent to the Minister for Housing for examination and that deputies forward the specific details of affected cases.
Michael Fitzmaurice requested that the Minister for Housing look into the matter and come back directly to the deputies with findings once the case details are provided, aiming to clarify the cause of the delays and restore communication for the owners involved.
Issue raised
Michael Fitzmaurice outlined cases in which owners who had given proper notice and complied with the stated timeframes of eight to ten months — and in some instances over a year — had not received replies from Galway City Council and did not know the status of their property sales.
Allegations of delayed council responses
He said the lack of response appears to be happening frequently in Galway City Council, with owners reporting unanswered emails and uncertainty about whether any change in thinking or legislation related to RAS had affected the process.
Response in the chamber
A deputy replied that he was not aware of any legislative change. Michael Fitzmaurice asked that the transcript of the remarks be sent to the Minister for Housing for examination and that deputies forward the specific details of affected cases.
Next steps requested
Michael Fitzmaurice requested that the Minister for Housing look into the matter and come back directly to the deputies with findings once the case details are provided, aiming to clarify the cause of the delays and restore communication for the owners involved.
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Transcript
I have a few people, say people that own a house or bought a house and they want to sell the house. They went through all the procedures as per 100%, give proper notice and everything. And Galway City Council, and it appears to be happening in Galway City Council a lot, where they went through all the procedures, there's a time frame of eight months or ten months, whatever is in it. Gone on a year, now they won't answer emails and the owner of the house doesn't know what's happening because they wanted to sell their house and Galway City Council won't respond back to them, which is an unusual situation. And we're hearing this a few times and I'm just wondering, is there some change in thinking or legislation or anything that would have affected that through RAS? Mr Deputy Fitzmaur. Truthfully, not that I'm aware of, but obviously you're seeing a reality in the system in terms of the cases that you've outlined. So what I'll do is I'll send a transcript of what you've said here to the Minister for Housing and ask that he looks at it and comes back to you directly. And if you could send out the details as well, that would be great. Thank you very much. Deputy Commons.