While the government continues to flounder and chase its tail over the supply of new homes in this country, the one thing that they have managed to produce is to make life as easy as possible for those looking to carry out improvements or full-on renovations on their rural homes.
This article was featured in our Property West Cork Autumn 2025 supplement – you can read the full supplement here!
For the West Cork lifestyle, that’s a strong advantage.
Any regular viewers of Maggie Molloy’s RTÉ show Cheap Irish Homes will notice that, in spite of the rising prices for all homes across Ireland, there is always value to be found in buying an old property in the countryside and doing it up.
The rural lifestyle isn’t for everyone, but it is becoming increasingly popular, with a far higher percentage of people working from home today compared to six years ago.
Even though certain companies are working hard to get people back into the office (most recently, AIB grabbed the headlines in this regard), many are operating remotely. According to a survey carried out by the University of Galway in 2023, some 59% of all workers are currently working hybrid, with a sizeable minority of workers (38%) working fully remotely.
In somewhere like West Cork, the percentages are likely to be even higher as it’s a part of Ireland to where many choose to relocate because of the obvious lifestyle attractions it offers.
For when you’ve found that beautiful old home that has captured your heart, just what are the grants available to you?
First of all, there are general ‘national’ grants for renovations and home improvements.
A lot of these are energy-oriented, allowing you to insulate and install energy-efficient extras such as photovoltaic panels.
For photovoltaic panels (that produce electricity, as opposed to solar panels that only heat water), the grant system offers €700 per kWp (kilowatt peak) up to 2kWp, with a reducing per-kWp rate up to a maximum of €1,800 for 4kWp.
Note that this grant is being chopped by €300 every year and will die out in 2029. Full details and conditions are on the SEAI’s website (seai.ie).
In a similar vein is the Better Energy Homes grant. This umbrella grant doesn’t cover windows and doors or the replacement of combustion boilers.
It does cover insulation (walls and attic), solar thermal and PV solutions, heat pump systems and a heating control upgrade.
The range of grants varies according to what work you’re carrying out.
External insulation for a detached house maxes out at €8,000, for example, while a maximum heating controls upgrade grant is €700.
Continuing on energy grants, there’s also the Warmer Homes Scheme, available to people on certain social welfare payments, and the SEAI’s Home Energy Upgrade Loan (available to those already approved for energy grants and with low interest rates of around 3%).
You can borrow up to €75,000 per property.
The big one for renovation of an old property is the Vacant Property Refurbishment Scheme. This is a grant that can really help to make the dream of buying an old tumbledown house and transforming it into a home come true.
You can get up to €50,000 for a vacant property and, if the property is defined as ‘derelict’, then the possible money available rises to €70,000.
It’s available through the local authority and, although some have found the application to be a laborious enough process, it’s a huge amount of money in anyone’s language so it’s well worth the hassle.
What a lot of people may not realise is that the grant can also be used for former commercial buildings, but only if they have changed planning permission to allow them to be used as accommodation.
And, if you’re fortunate enough to be living on one of West Cork’s magnificent offshore islands, the grants are even higher – up to €60,000 for a vacant property and €84,000 for a derelict property.
Each local authority has a designated Vacant Homes Officer, to whom you should address any queries on the matter. For Cork County Council, the current VHO is Louise Manley (email: [email protected]). It’s worth opening up the lines of communication because there is also a special Local Authority Purchase & Renovation Loan.
This loan is just over a year in existence and it was launched as an extension of Local Authority Home Loan to facilitate people buying and renovating a property. It’s available to first-time buyers and ‘fresh-start’ buyers (those who have gone through divorce/separation, or bankruptcy).
This is a very valuable facility because it allows you to borrow 90% of the renovation cost involved and between 80% and 90% of the purchase price of the property.
The percentage you can qualify for in terms of the purchase price depends on the level of dereliction involved in the project – 80% for a derelict property, 85% for a vacant property requiring major work and 90% for a vacant property requiring minor work.
The interest rates are also very attractive, with a 4% rate fixed for 25 years or 4.05% for loan terms up to 30 years.
In brief, there has never been a better time in this country to get assistance in purchasing and renovating an old home.
The energy-related grants are essentially administered through the SEAI and are being phased out over the coming years.
The fixer-upper grants and aids are not likely to be cut in the foreseeable future.
For anyone buying an old property, the grants are great and for anyone who’s a First Time Buyer or a Fresh-Starter, the finance options are excellent.
