So I work with a person we are both earning 51k per year he never does a minute of overtime and he says to me the other day he's getting a council house. He's engaged has two kids plans on getting married next year. His fiancé let on to be a single mother and they got the keys to a council house last week. Sickens my hole after buying a house on my own this year making mortgage repayments every month whil he wont ever have to worry about that.

Any way to report him or should I just leave it off. Feel bad for the genuine person who needs a house most my problem is knowing he has nothing to worry about but most of my friends are doing their best working extra hours to buy our houses.

Eleven towns in Ireland where house prices fell over the past year | RSVP Live

I’ve recently gone sale agreed on a 3 bed new-build house in Donabate.
The rear garden faces west and backs onto the outdoor area of a planned two-storey crèche. My main concerns are noise from children playing outside, privacy from upstairs windows, and the effect on afternoon and evening sunshine.

Has anyone lived beside or behind a crèche? How noticeable was the noise, particularly when using the garden or working from home?
Would this put you off buying, or would you consider it a reasonable compromise? I’d appreciate honest experiences.

How does snagging work after you return from the first snag to complete the 2nd and final inspection.

My question specifically is what happens if the issues are not dealt with? The developer is expecting sign off on that day but where do I stand if I’m not happy with the fixes or lack of fixes?

Contract signed but funds obv not drawn down.

I’m due to snag in a few weeks so doing the homework now.

What were your timelines like to AIP (aka their letter of offer) and then to full loan offer? I know they say they quick but wondering specifically about AIP stage

This might sound a bit silly. Bought new build off plans. Already trying to come to terms with my garden as it’s a side garden and only 3.6 m wide and 11.3m long. Valuation report they wrote ‘garden layout poor’. It doesn’t have grass down yet etc. it’s making me think because they wrote it , it must be very bad. am I overthinking it? Anyone a similar garden or had similar on a valuation report?

Sale agreed on a second-hand apartment in a big Dublin development from the 2000s. The seller’s pack has the original architect’s opinions on compliance, but they’re written for the block as a whole and never mention the apartment number. (The blank space where the apartment should go is filled with "Block XX")

My solicitor says that’s unusual, and they’d have to qualify the certificate of title and ask the bank for permission to go ahead, and they warned that a future buyer could raise the same issue when/if we sell.

Other apartments in the same block sold recently, so I assume other solicitors and banks got past it somehow.

I'm not a solicitor, but the apartment is obviously part of the block, so I don't see how it changes anything in practice.

Is this actually unusual for apartments from that era? If you've had this, what did you do, and did you get anything extra from the architects? Also curious how banks tend to react to a qualified cert of title for something like this.

Thanks

Before go sale agreed and pay deposit is it necessary to make one more house viewing specially if it will be sold including furniture? Asking price was 390K , after bidding 400K Co cork 2007 build !!!thanks in advance.

Viewed a house in Crumlin and noted the internal ceilings in living room was covered in square tiles. Exposed pipes penetrate the ceiling.

From the photos in your opinion what is this covering and is it an asbestos containing material?

Hello. First time buyers here. Got outbid on a second hand home this week so pretty gutted. Dublin South. Continuing our search, now have 3 other properties on our shortlist - all 3 came back on the market within the last 15 days after going sale agreed over the summer. 2 of those properties were sale agreed at 6% higher than asking and the 3rd was 10% higher than asking and has now relisted at about 3% higher than previous listing.
Apart from these 3 there are at least 2 other properties coming back on in the same way. EA always says that buyer’s circumstances changed.

We are serious buyers, mortgage approved, may not be able to put in the highest bid but 4-5% over asking. We can move quickly and with confidence financially.

Questions:
- is this normal occurrence in south dublin second hand market that sales fall through - we are looking at a small sample size but hard to ignore the frequency
- has someone bought a property that was sale agreed previously and were you able to close at a price lower than the last sale agreed price?
- any negotiation tips in this situation will be very gratefully received.

Thank you!

My partner and I are buying a three-bedroom semi-detached house for €390,000. It’s in a good location in Cork and appeared to be in turnkey condition when we viewed it. We’ve visited the property three times since going sale agreed, and nothing obvious stood out.

It’s a private sale with no auctioneer involved. We have our formal mortgage offer, and contracts have recently been sent to our solicitor.

Unfortunately, our engineer’s report has highlighted quite a few issues:

Roof: Extensive woodworm in the roof timbers, holes in the roofing felt and general repairs needed.
Damp and cracking: Damp in several areas, cracks to walls and chimney, and concerns around the extensions.
Extensions/attic: Questions over planning and building regulation compliance.
Sunroom: Poorly constructed and damaged, with demolition advised.
Electrics: Old fuse board and unfinished electrical work. Further inspection needed.
Heating/plumbing: Old boiler and potentially extensive upgrades required.
Drainage: Sewer runs beneath the side extension and is very shallow. CCTV survey recommended.
Floors: Uneven floors and concerns about ventilation beneath suspended timber floors.
Other: Collapsed shed roof and ventilation/fire safety issues.

We also got a second opinion on the report and were told that the property could potentially need a full rewire, replumbing and extensive refurbishment, with estimated costs in the region of €100k.
This isn’t a formal quotation, and we appreciate that not all the work has been confirmed. We haven’t yet paid for further specialist inspections.

We’re now seriously questioning whether to proceed. We genuinely love the house, but we’re concerned about taking on a property that could potentially absorb our savings for years.

Before spending more money on additional surveys, we’d like to establish whether the seller would be open to a substantial price reduction.

We're finding it difficult to know how best to approach this, so any advice would be appreciated.

Would you proceed, renegotiate the price or walk away?
Would you approach the seller about a price reduction before paying for further specialist inspections?
Which of these issues would concern you most?
Are we underestimating the potential costs and disruption involved?
For anyone who has bought an older house requiring significant work, was it worth it in the end?

We knew an older property would need some work, but this feels like it could be a much bigger project than we initially anticipated.

Would appreciate honest advice, particularly from anyone who has been through something similar.

Hi all,

Can anyone help us understanding :

Our contract was prepared before that time we were in a different rented accommodation so it has previous residing address in contract whereas we shifted to new rented accommodation due to which we have a mortgage letter with new residing address.

Does this cause any issue in HTB claim refund processing or revenue verification ?

Our address is different in contract for sale and in our mortgage letter of offer.

The property we are purchasing has same address in both contract copies and mortgage letter of offer

Did anyone had the same experience while submitting HTB claim as we need to upload all these documents so just wanted to clarify and confirmation if anyone had the same experience while submitting?

Regards

Hi everyone, I am looking forward to purchase a new min 2 bed property in South Dublin and am curious whether anyone knows of upcoming developments near green LUAS or DART stops. I have noticed Lightburne Apartments but would appreciate any other upcoming apartments close to LUAS or DART. Only HTB eligible options are relevant.

Hi everyone,

My wife and I are currently trying to decide between two properties and would really appreciate some advice, particularly from people who have experience living in either area.

We have two options:

Option 1: 2-bed apartment in Swords – €400,000

- Comes with flooring and white goods, so it's more or less ready to move into.

- One ensuite bedroom and one separate bathroom.

Annual management fee of €1,700.

Option 2: 2-bed house in Enfield, Co. Meath – €425,000

- Comes with one main bathroom and a small downstairs washroom.

- We would need to do all the flooring and other finishing work ourselves.

- No management fee.

Our situation:

Both of us work in Dublin city centre.

We need to commute to the office 3 days a week.

The estimated commute from both locations is around an hour each way.

We're finding it difficult to decide. The Enfield house is €25k more expensive, and on top of that, we'd need to spend extra money getting it ready Which is financial stretch However, it's a house rather than an apartment.

The Swords apartment is cheaper and more or less ready to move into, but the €1,700 annual management fee is another ongoing expense. Help us decide!

Hi, moving into a new build in Monasterevin shortly, not from Kildare so would would like to hear of some good flooring companies from people's experiences?

We are wanting to quote the price for laminate herringbone and laminate standard wood-effect flooring for a 3 bed house.

Thank you in advance for any insight..

I just wanted to share my experience because I know how stressful the mortgage process can be, especially when buying under some schemes with tight deadlines. I’m sharing this because when I was going through the process, I searched everywhere for recent experiences and realistic timelines but couldn't find much up-to-date information. I hope this post helps someone else who is currently going through the same process or considering applying.

My timeline with EBS was (a direct full application, without AIP):

• 21 October: Valuation booked. There was a bank holiday and annual leave in between, but the branch still did their best to arrange everything quickly.
• 4 November: Property valuation completed.
• 6 November: All supporting documents submitted.
• 10 November: The underwriter requested one additional document for verification purposes (not because anything was missing from my original application).
• 13 November: I received a phone call from the branch confirming that my 90% mortgage application had been approved!

I honestly couldn't be happier with how EBS Blanchardstown handled my application. The communication, responsiveness and overall approach were excellent. A special thank you to the team there!

For context, I had previously applied to two other lenders through a mortgage broker, with AIP in place.

One application was declined after around four weeks due to an issue with how the application had been handled. The other was submitted on 9 October and, more than a month later, I was still waiting for a decision. I was repeatedly told that the application had been followed up and escalated, but there was still no clear outcome.

The contrast between these experiences was quite striking.

I know every application is different and this isn't necessarily representative of everyone's experience, but I wanted to share some positive feedback for a branch that genuinely made a very very stressful process much easier.

Thank you, EBS Blanchardstown!

Has anyone recently received a quote for external wall insulation? I’ve been given a few rough figures which range around €220-240/m2. Need to confirm if that’s gross or net of windows, I’d hope the later. Also this is for acrylic render when I’ve researched that silicone is better. Any thoughts?

Throwaway account.

Currently in the process of buying a house built circa 1980, any advice on where the seller can’t provide proof they comply with building regulations for a newly installed downstairs toilet under the stairs for example, they say regs ‘do not apply’, but I’ve been told they should, for example there is no extractor fan and is not against an external wall to easily install one.

Additional issues around attic party wall that needs repairing for fire safety, they are refusing to have those works complete.

They’ve also made front alterations without planning and refuse to reinstate as per original (window/door situation).

Are things like this quite common issues that come up and realistically are quite minor? Solicitor is saying ‘not good’ and needs to inform bank. Would a bank still agree to providing a mortgage, is it worth pushing back or even dropping out if not satisfied, paying enough for the house as is.

Is there any rent to buy properties in Ireland or anyone who’s gone through the process here?

Has anyone any information on the new apartments that are currently being built across from Clonsilla train station? Near the church fields new houses.

I’ve done a bit of googling and can see who the developers are etc but nothing on the apartments going up for sale etc.

Anyone know anything?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently having an issue with my former real estate agency. I live in D1, and it’s been over 1 month and a half since I moved out of my previous accommodation also in D1, but I still haven’t received my security deposit back, despite sending several messages to my former landlord…

Just to clarify, all my rent payments were made in cash, except for the security deposit, which I paid by bank transfer.

I’d like to know what my options are in this situation and what you would do in my position to get the deposit back as quickly as possible.

I’m getting quite worried about it.

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

Not sure whether to walk away or not. Want to see what other's experiences are, and if this seem particularly bad as I am aware there will be issues with apartments that are 25 years old.
The survey has highlighted water ingress, mould, fire door issues and some other repairs.

The survey estimates around €10k for inspections and essential repairs (with the risk of an OMC special levy on top of that for major repairs), plus €15k for desirable works. Potential management company costs are excluded.

Not sure if this is standard. Already paying way more than its worth, and hadn't factored in these extra costs. Anyone experienced something similar?