Two council flats have lain empty for years waiting for work to be completed before they are relet.

After questions were posed by council leader David Christian, it emerged one of the flats, which are both at Lheannagh Park, Spring Valley, had been empty since 2012 and the other since 2015.

The council’s housing committee chairman Claire Wells told fellow councillors the first flat was vacated by the last tenant in 2012 and was ready to be relet initially in February 2013 but then further problems had emerged with the property. The other was vacated in July 2015, she said.

Councillor Christian said the delay was entirely unacceptable.

’To have a property empty since 2012 is appalling,’ he said.

’I will be referring this to the chief executive for an internal investigation. To say we have not lost rent is simply wrong.’

Plans are currently afoot to build a retaining wall by the flats to address a damp problem. Councillors were told the two flats in the block were affected by an earth bank running up from the back of the building which had caused water to drain down and under the floors.

Holes in the damp proof membrane have contributed to the problem which is thought to affect a number of other flats in the block.

The plan is to build a retaining wall which will divert the water to be dispersed through the drains.

Councillor Christian said a contributory factor had been the amount of rubbish that had collected in the hollow between the wall of the flats and the banking.

’Tenants in those flats used to need a ladder to reach their windows to clean them. Now there is so much material there they can reach to clean them without standing on anything,’ he said.

’That has to be a big factor in making those walls damp.’

The debate formed part of a wider discussion among councillors about the number of empty properties on the council’s housing list waiting to be relet.

Councillor Wells said the list had reduced considerably, having diminished from a peak some time ago of 160 to around 25 currently. By the end of March she said she hoped they would be down to around 10.

Councillor Ritchie McNicholl asked for a breakdown of the various council properties, indicating how long each remained empty on average before it was able to be relet.

Councillor Wells said she did not have information but would find out.

Councillor Christian acknowledged that the number of empty council properties had gone down but added it was less of an achievement if one considered the list should never have reached the heights it did.