Carlow county has lowest rate of private rental inspections
Carlow recorded the second-highest vacancy rate in the country at 4.84%
CARLOW recorded the lowest rate of private rental inspections in the country in 2025, according to a recent independent report analysing the performance of local authorities. Only 4.5% of private rented sector accommodation was inspected during the year, down from 8.7% in 2024.
This includes all private residential tenancies, including student accommodation, as well as cost rental and Approved Housing Body (AHB) properties.
The figures were released in the 2025 from the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC). NOAC referred to Carlow, along with Dublin City Council and Wicklow Co Council, specifically as repeat underperformers in this area.
The national average is 18.9%, while the annual target set out in the government’s housing plan for 2025-2030 is 25%.
The report notes that €10.5 million in Exchequer funding was made available to local authorities to carry out these inspections. However, NOAC found that many local authorities encountered difficulties recruiting and retaining inspectors in 2025.
Local authorities are obliged to carry out these inspections to ensure that private rented accommodation meets the required regulations.
Elsewhere in the report, it also states that Carlow recorded the largest percentage increase in long-term homeless adults of any local authority in the country in 2025 – up 121.42% from 2024. Over half of the number of adults in emergency accommodation in the county were classified as long-term homeless, that is, those who have been in emergency accommodation for more than six months.
In terms of social housing, Carlow’s stock grew by 47 from 2,106 in 2024 to 2,148 in 2025. However, it recorded the second-highest vacancy rate in the country at 4.84%.
This was well above the national average of 2.44%, with the council telling NOAC that the figure was down to new housing schemes that were completed not being allocated by the end of the year.
More positively, the average reletting time in the county was below the national average, while Carlow had the lowest average reletting cost in the country. At just 21 weeks, the average reletting time was more than 11 weeks faster than the national average of 32.08 weeks, with the average reletting cost of €10,685 per unit far below the national average of €31,006.
The council also performed much more strongly regarding retrofitting, with 77 social housing units being retrofitted in 2025. All 77 of these units received a building energy rating (BER) of B2 or above, with heat pumps installed in each.
While the council was proactive in surveying the conditions of roads across the county, 99.96% of regional roads, 98.71% of local primary roads and 99.6% of local secondary roads received a condition rating in the relevant period.
