Daft Property - Irish Property News

Banks 'ignoring their ghost estates'... BANKS are choosing to avoid the legal responsibility for cleaning up hundreds of unfinished housing estates. Some 230 unfinished and dangerous estates have been abandoned by developers -- and banks which funded the projects have decided not to appoint receivers in an attempt to claw back the money. If receivers were appointed the banks would be legally responsible for clearing up the mess. Banks across the board have been blamed for refusing to address the problem. According to Housing Minister Willie Penrose, in some cases efforts by local authorities to meet with banks and developers to discuss the problem had met with no response. Banks also failed to appoint people to deal with the issue. He warned he would consider introducing legislation forcing the banks to take responsibility, or face the prospect of being fined. "I'll be looking to the banks and developers to designate key contacts. I'm also examining t...