New mica scheme 'unworkable'

“Anyone who is not affected will be thinking, 'What a great deal' but, as a pensioner who owns a mica-affected home, I feel very worried.

This was the view of one Inishowen homeowner regarding the recently published Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) report on construction costs for the defective concrete blocks grant scheme.

Speaking to Inish Live, the homeowner, who wished to remain anonymous said: “The costs announced by the SCSI on February 28, may well be better than the sliding scale but when you cost everything in the reality for us as pensioners and I’m sure many others, is that it is simply unworkable.”

Describing themselves as “the left behinds” the homeowner added: “You look at the figures and you check what has been included and what has been left out.

“No matter how you look at this, it is still going to cost every family a great deal of money.

“This is how I see things. As pensioners, we have very few options if any for getting a loan.

“However, let's imagine someone helps us out with the loan. Then we realise we need more money because that price does not include foundations, so more money needs to be is found.

“But wait, now we realise that the ‘A ‘rated windows and doors we paid extra for in 2013, we cannot have those again because this scheme only allows costs for the standard of windows and doors made prior to 2008. So that means, to get what we paid for originally, you guessed it, more money,” they said.

“Then, there’s the log burner and the oil central heating, we had previously,” said the homeowner. “They will have to be replaced as current building regulations say it needs to be upgraded to new system.

“But you know what, there is a grant for this. Sure, there is, but we all know by now that a grant is only a contribution. All these extras add up and up?

“When we use the SCSI square foot rate, which is closest to our house, and compare it to the price a local building contractors say they will charge, we are looking at a shortfall off 68k.

“None of us will realistically want to build a house to pre-2008 standards, but with the shortfall financially we might have no other option, but here’s another thought, will we be allowed to? Will we be given planning permission to do so or will that be another hurdle we have to jump over?” said the exasperated homeowner.

They added that the SCSI costings in their current form did not bring them any nearer to being able to rebuild their home.

“Our home which is being slowly destroyed by the defects in the blocks it was built from,” they emphasised.

“Paddy Diver [formerly 100% Redress] and Michael Doherty [Mica Action Group] have said they feel the SCSI costings are 'workable' and 'fair'.

“I really hope it is and that I am understanding this all wrong. Maybe the Mica Action Group could give us their understanding of it, as they too, like the rest of us have now had time to read the details?

“Of course the biggest obstacle for us is time, and as long as the 'Damage Threshold' exists, we have not a hope in ever being excepted on the scheme to begin with.

“The saying goes 'time is luck' but unfortunately for us neither time nor luck seem to be on our side,” said the homeowner.