Your property questions answered
Grants for listed houses
Our house in Dublin 6 has been listed as a protected structure - against our wishes incidentally, and with all the planning issues that involves. The rain this winter showed that the roof, which we were told needed replacing around two years ago, really has to be done. As the house is protected are there any grants we could tap into for what is going to be an expensive job?
Dublin City Council operates a system of grants for the conservation of protected structures and there's good news for you on two fronts - the closing date for application for this year's grants is January 31st and roof conservation is one of the areas that gets high priority when the council is deciding funding allocation. It's not a 100 per cent grant - the broad rule is that it is to cover 50 per cent or up to around €13,000 of the cost of the work. In special cases up to €25,000 has been given - every application is assessed on a case-by-case basis. Last year the average grant was €11,000 and a grant as small as €2,000 was given to one applicant looking to replace their window frames.
Roof repair is not the only work covered by the grant - railings, gutters, repointing and rendering are some of the conservation areas also covered. The scheme is not intended to help carry out routine maintenance, alterations or improvements. It can be quite a long drawn out process - Dublin City Council cannot allocate grants until its own funding for the scheme has been decided. Last year that funding did not come through until the end of May which put pressure on successful grant applicants who had to rush to get the work done. To comply with the grant conditions all work must be completed by October 1st. For information and an application form contact the conservation office at planning@dublincity.ie, or www.dublincity.ie or 01-2223926.
Preparing for viewings
Our house is going on the market next month. It is a three-bedroom semi-detached house built 10 years ago. The third - and smallest - bedroom is used as a home office. Do we have to turn the room into a bedroom for the viewings - we'd prefer not to have to go to that trouble.
Ideally yes, because buyers looking at your house usually want the third bedroom - especially on a relatively new estate where families or couples starting out are the likely buyers. However, it is a lot of hassle - getting a bed, taking the stuff out and so - and in a standard three-bedroom house viewers can usually make the leap into visualising a small bedroom with a bed.
Unless you have a state-of-the-art computer and smart shelving, home offices can look horribly untidy and be, in reality, the dumping ground for old appliances, dog-eared books and sporting equipment. Viewers are turned off by mess and clutter. Get rid of anything that shouldn't be there. Clear your desk, if you have a big ugly chair - the bane of the home office - borrow a smart substitute, get rid of messy paperwork, tame all the cables, put some colour into the room with good looking box files (Easons and Habitat have a good selection) and buy a modern table lamp.
If your home office features broadband, additional telephone sockets and electrical sockets, make sure that is included in the details - they are all pluses.
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• Unfortunately, it is not possible to respond to all questions. The above is a representative sample of queries received. This column is a readers' service and is not intended to replace professional advice. No individual correspondence will be entered into.
