A new development of holiday cottages offering valuable tax breaks to investors goes on the market next Saturday and Sunday at Faithlegg, the 150-acre parkland estate with its own golf course and four-star hotel just outside Waterford city. All the homes have to be available for letting on a fulltime basis. McInerney Construction is releasing 29 apartments and townhouses for sale, ranging in price from £108,500 for a one-bedroom apartment of 409 sq ft to £185,000 for three-bedroom townhouses with 1,184 sq ft. Most of the homes going for sale are two-bedroom townhouses with 818 to 1,000 sq ft which will cost between £154,000 and £167,500.
Hamilton Osborne King is handling sales in the Power Mews scheme, which will have 51 homes in all with an end value of £4.4 million.
People buying the cottages will be obliged to lease them to the management of the estate for 21 years with a ten-year break clause which can be exercised by either party. A letting agency will market the cottages on the national and international markets with particular emphasis on the golf market.
Subject to a number of conditions, purchasers will be able to claim full interest relief and capital allowances at 10 per cent per annum on the construction costs over a 10-year period.
If a cottage is sold within that time, there will be a clawback of the capital allowances already claimed.
The first tranche of homes will be ready for letting in the autumn. McInerneys are guaranteeing six months rent in all cases. For a typical two-bed townhouse, the company will underwrite a net figure of £2,500 for the winter season. It envisages that a similar unit is likely to produce a full-year rental of around £9,000 in 2001.
Around 40 per cent of the rent will be deducted to cover maintenance, cleaning and promotion. Faithlegg is the latest estate with a golf course and high-quality hotel to opt for holiday cottages to augment the accommodation already available. Late last year McInerneys sold another 22 cottages off the plans with a combined value of 3.2 million.
All the homes going for sale are located in a courtyard and have their own entrances. They are each fully furnished to a design which meets Bord Failte's four-star standard.
The fit-out includes leather suites, Shaker-style kitchens with Neff appliances to include an integrated fridge, dishwasher and microwave, stainless steel cooker and hob, and a washing machine/dryer. There will be timber flooring in the livingroom and carpets in all the bedrooms.
The cottages include a range of incentives, including discounted green fees on the 7,000 yard golf course and the use of a swimming-pool due to open this July at the hotel.
The hotel is operated by the Tower Hotel Group, which also has hotels in Waterford city, Killarney, Sligo and Temple Bar in Dublin.
Faithlegg, overlooking the broad water of the Suir river, is being developed as a year-round facility, attracting not only overseas visitors who generally arrive through nearby Rosslare harbour, but also families on a short break from cities like Dublin and Cork.
