"Sunnybank Cottage", Inchaquire, Ballitore, Kilcullen, KildareR14NY53
€285,000
3 Bed~1 Bath~67 m²~BER E2
What you'll like:
- Charming Detached Cottage: This property offers a classic detached cottage layout with traditional character, providing a private and peaceful countryside living experience that appeals to many buyers seeking rural charm.
- Generous Site Area: Sitting on approximately 0.27 acres, the property includes substantial outdoor space with side and rear gardens, offering excellent potential for outdoor activities and future landscaping projects.
- Scenic Countryside Views: The cottage enjoys wonderful rolling views across surrounding Kildare agricultural lands, creating a picturesque backdrop that enhances the overall appeal and serenity of the location.
- Desirable Location: Situated in a highly sought-after area just south of Kilcullen, the home provides easy access to local schools, playgrounds, shops, and restaurants while maintaining a peaceful rural atmosphere.
- Excellent Motorway Access: The M9 and M7 motorways are only a short three to four-minute drive away, ensuring convenient commuting times for professionals traveling toward Dublin City and surrounding employment hubs.
- Chain Free Sale: Being marketed as chain-free means the transaction can proceed without delays from upstream property purchases, offering a smoother and potentially faster buying process for interested purchasers.
- Modern Fitted Kitchen: The kitchen features stylish modern fitted units, a built-in cooker, fully tiled flooring, and a feature extractor fan, providing a functional and visually appealing culinary workspace.
- Comfortable Sitting Room: The cozy sitting room is fitted with a recently installed wood burning stove and an attractive fireplace, creating a warm and welcoming focal point for cold winter evenings.
- Upgraded Bathroom: The family bathroom has been fully modernised with tiled walls and floors, featuring a convenient step-in shower with a Mira Elite electric unit for reliable daily use.
- Generous Room Proportions: Despite the compact overall footprint, the accommodation includes three double bedrooms, one of which offers flexible usage as a secondary reception room or formal dining space.
- Double Glazed Windows: The property is fitted with double glazed windows throughout, helping to improve interior thermal retention and reduce outside noise from nearby local rural roadways.
- Oil Fired Central Heating: Equipped with an oil-fired central heating system supplemented by a solid-fuel stove, the home provides versatile heating options to keep living spaces comfortable year-round.
- Extensive Road Frontage: The substantial road frontage provides excellent physical presence and easy vehicular access onto the property grounds directly from the local public thoroughfare.
- Ample Off-Street Parking: The extensive side and rear areas offer plenty of dedicated off-street parking space for multiple vehicles, which is particularly convenient for visiting guests or multi-car households.
- External Garden Shed: A large steel garden shed is included on the site, offering secure outdoor storage for bicycles, gardening tools, fuel supplies, and general domestic equipment.
- Stable Asking Price: The recorded price history indicates a steady asking price of €285,000 without erratic fluctuations, suggesting a confident and transparent initial pricing strategy by the vendor.
- Strong Rental Demand: The combination of a commutable Kildare location and a detached cottage format typically attracts solid rental interest if the buyer considers future investment or buy-to-let potential.
- Bright Interior Layout: The well-designed interior layout maximises natural light across the principal rooms, creating a surprisingly bright and airy atmosphere inside the compact floor area.
- Traditional Stone Boundary: A beautiful traditional stone wall forms the front boundary, adding significant aesthetic charm, curb appeal, and a distinct sense of heritage to the entrance.
- Ready To Occupy: Marketed as ready to go, the property allows new owners to move in immediately with minimal decorative delay, subject to any personal cosmetic preferences they wish to implement.
But keep in mind:
- Poor BER Rating: The property carries an E2 Building Energy Rating, which indicates poor thermal efficiency and suggests that the buyer should budget for significant insulation and heating upgrades.
- Compact Floor Area: Measuring approximately 67 square meters, the total living space is relatively small, meaning furniture placement and storage options require careful planning for a growing household.
- Septic Tank System: The property relies on a private septic tank rather than a mains sewerage connection, requiring the buyer to inspect the tank condition and verify regulatory compliance.
- Potential Extension Costs: Due to the modest 67 square meter footprint, buyers hoping for larger living spaces may need to invest in a major extension, which will incur substantial architectural and construction costs.
- Historic Energy Standards: An E2 energy rating often leads to higher monthly home heating bills and makes the property a prime candidate for a deep retrofit under government sustainable energy grants.
- Roof Insulation Unknown: The current condition and depth of attic or roof insulation are unverified, meaning buyers should commission a thorough structural survey to check for heat loss and timber health.
- Single Bathroom Limit: With only one bathroom serving all three double bedrooms, busy households may experience morning congestion and a lack of guest sanitary facilities.
- Proximity To Local Roads: The extensive road frontage may expose the front garden and dwelling to passing rural traffic noise, which the buyer should evaluate during peak morning and evening hours.
- Septic Tank Maintenance: Private waste treatment systems demand regular sludge removal, ongoing mechanical checks, and potential future replacement expenses that municipal connections do not require.
- Water Supply Verification: Although the water is noted as mains-fed, the buyer's legal representative should confirm water pressure, pipe material conditions, and continuity of supply with local authorities.
- Boundary Demarcation Check: Given the rural setting, the buyer should verify that all physical boundaries and stone walls perfectly match the official land registry folio map to prevent future disputes.
- Future Proofing Limits: The small overall footprint may limit long-term resale liquidity if local buyer demand shifts decisively toward larger four-bedroom family homes with multiple reception spaces.
- Stove Compliance Check: The recently fitted wood burning stove should be independently inspected by a certified professional to ensure proper flue installation and compliance with current fire safety regulations.
- Electrical System Age: The listing does not detail the age or condition of the internal wiring, meaning an exhaustive electrical survey is strongly recommended to check for obsolete fuse boards.
- Surface Water Drainage: Buyers should verify how surface rainwater is managed across the 0.27-acre site to ensure proper runoff away from the cottage foundations and prevent damp issues.
- Garden Maintenance Scope: Managing a 0.27-acre plot requires ongoing landscaping effort and garden upkeep, which may not suit buyers who prefer a low-maintenance or completely paved exterior.
- Planning Permission History: Any historic alterations, shed placements, or extensions should be checked against local council planning records to ensure all past works received proper statutory approval.
- Ventilation And Damp Risks: Older detached cottages of this size can occasionally suffer from condensation or rising damp, making thorough checks for moisture levels essential during the pre-purchase survey.
- Storage Limitations: Beyond the steel garden shed, internal built-in storage appears minimal, meaning buyers may need to invest in bespoke wardrobes or attic conversion storage solutions.
- Local Amenity Reliance: While amenities are accessible in nearby Kilcullen and Crookstown, reliance on private vehicle transport for daily errands, schools, and commuting remains essential for occupants.
Price positioning
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- The asking price of €285,000 appears relatively modest and accessible for a detached countryside cottage, suggesting it is initially positioned below broader regional averages to attract strong competitive interest and prospective buyers.
- Valuation signals are influenced by a compact 67 square meter floor area and an inefficient E2 energy rating, which suggest potential upgrade costs that naturally justify a more conservative pricing approach by the vendor.
- Factors supporting this price point include the attractive 0.27-acre site, a chain-free status, and convenient proximity to the M9/M7 motorways, while expensive modernization requirements could undermine higher valuation expectations.
- Relevant market dynamics show stable pricing without historical reductions recorded on this listing, reflecting confidence from the agent that the current entry point appropriately balances the compact size against desirable rural lifestyle appeal.
Build Analysis
What we know from similar construction types
- The property is a detached cottage extending to approximately 67 square metres, featuring traditional elements such as a stone wall boundary to the front.
- Heating is provided by an oil-fired central heating system supplemented by a recently fitted wood-burning stove in the sitting room, and windows are double glazed.
- The property relies on a private septic tank, meaning a buyer should investigate its registration status, capacity, and compliance with current environmental standards.
- Given the cottage's compact size of 67 square metres, any future plans for significant spatial expansion should be verified for local planning permission requirements.
Retrofit Cost*
Possible renovating / insulating expenditure
- The property has a poor BER rating of E2, indicating that a comprehensive deep retrofit is required to bring the energy efficiency up to modern standards.
- A full deep retrofit for a detached cottage of this size (67 m²), including exterior wall insulation, upgraded roof insulation, window replacements, and renewable heating upgrades, is estimated to cost between 35000 and 50000 euro, depending on the scope of works and contractor availability.
Heating cost*
Estimated expense to heat this property every year
- Estimated annual heating cost: €1,800 to €2,400.
- Explanation: Given the property size of 67 m2 and a poor BER rating of E2, the heating efficiency is relatively low, meaning higher oil and solid fuel consumption via the wood burning stove to maintain comfortable indoor temperatures through colder months.
Environmental checks
Area-level evidence and things to investigate
Air quality
Nearby sites
Landfills
None foundWaste facilities
None foundIndustrial facilities
None foundNearby infrastructure
Mobile phone masts
None foundOverhead electricity lines
None foundUnderground electricity cables
None foundFlood Safe
8/10Water overflow reports to follow up
- The property is situated in the countryside near Kilcullen and Ballitore in County Kildare, occupying an elevated or generally sloping landscape that helps reduce surface water accumulation.
- Official mapping evidence shows no designated flood risk zones immediately encompassing or intersecting this particular site.
- Standard rural drainage and local topography remain important considerations during prolonged periods of heavy rainfall, though the setting does not indicate a high vulnerability to river flooding.
Recent Local Sales
Verified residential transactions published in the previous five years
Sales on the same street or estate
No verified results were found for this group in the previous five years.
Recent sales in the wider Ballitore area
19 HILLCREST, KILCULLEN, KILDARE
- Sale date
- Declared sale price
- €420,000.00
46 MOANBANE PARK, KILCULLEN, KILDARE
- Sale date
- Declared sale price
- €456,000.00
LORGA DAIBHI, SUNNYHILL, KILCULLEN
- Sale date
- Declared sale price
- €665,000.00
4 CNOC NA GREINE WOODS, KILCULLEN, KILDARE
- Sale date
- Declared sale price
- €425,000.00
SANDLANDS, KILGOWAN, KILCULLEN
- Sale date
- Declared sale price
- €530,000.00
Source: Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA), Residential Property Price Register (PPR). Matching uses address information published by the PPR rather than measured map distance. It may omit nearby properties on differently named streets.
Last Sale
A confidently matched previous PPR transaction for this property
No confidently matched previous sale was found in the Property Price Register.
Buyer fees*
Associated expenses guide
- Estimated stamp duty: €2,850 — 1% of €285,000.
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Based on the asking price shown on this page, using standard residential stamp-duty rates. No adjustments are made for VAT, reliefs, mixed-use property or additional land. The final purchase price and your circumstances may change the amount payable.
- Solicitor legal fees: €1,500 to €3,000 excluding outlays and VAT.
- Land registration fees: €400 to €800 depending on the property value and registration type.
- Property valuation fees: €150 to €300 for a mortgage or standard valuation report.
- Surveyor fees: €500 to €1,200 depending on the depth of the structural survey required for a 67 m2 detached cottage.
- Annual home insurance: €400 to €750 depending on the policy coverage and location.
Forum Talk
What people are saying about this area
- Local community discussions around Ballitore and Kilcullen frequently highlight the appeal of rural countryside living combined with convenient access to the M9 and M7 motorways for commuters heading towards Dublin.
- Residents in the wider Kildare area often share tips on upgrading older rural cottages, noting that improving BER ratings from lower bands like E2 is a common project for new owners.
- Local forums frequently mention strong demand for detached homes with generous site sizes and traditional stone boundary walls in the Kilcullen and Crookstown areas.
- Discussions regarding rural properties in South Kildare regularly advise potential buyers to thoroughly inspect private wastewater systems such as septic tanks before finalising purchases.
LifeFit Assessment
How well this property may suit your lifestyle
Family
7 areas- Young Children6/10
The property features a c.0.27 acre site with safe garden areas for young children to play, though the 67 m² floor area is quite compact for a growing family.
- Teenagers4/10
With only 3 bedrooms and 67 m² of living space, privacy and independent space for teenagers will be severely limited.
- Multi-generational Living3/10
The small footprint and single bathroom make multi-generational living impractical without substantial extension works.
- Single Buyers8/10
A detached 3-bedroom cottage on a manageable site offers an excellent entry or step-up home for single buyers looking for independence and country living.
- Couples9/10
Ideal for couples wanting a cosy home with a wood-burning stove, generous outdoor space, and easy access to major commuter routes.
- Empty Nesters8/10
Single-level cottage layout is convenient for downsizers, though ongoing maintenance of the gardens and a septic tank should be factored in.
- Retirees7/10
Offers peaceful rural living on one level, but reliance on a car for amenities and potential isolation should be considered.
Work
3 areas- Remote Working7/10
The peaceful setting is ideal for home working, though buyers should verify the local broadband speeds.
- Hybrid Commuting8/10
Excellent proximity to the M9/M7 motorway makes a hybrid commute to Dublin highly feasible.
- Retired8/10
A manageable detached property that suits a slower pace of life in retirement.
Practical
8 areas- Minimalist Design7/10
Traditional cottage layout lends itself well to minimalist interior styling.
- Ageing in Place7/10
Single-level accommodation is beneficial for older buyers, though rural isolation and reliance on private transport are factors.
- Low Maintenance6/10
Compact cottage footprint, but requires management of a septic tank and oil heating system.
- Secure Gated Entry4/10
Features extensive road frontage and a traditional stone wall, but lacks automated secure gates.
- Flexible Floor Plans6/10
One of the double bedrooms can double as a second reception room, offering some layout flexibility.
- Heritage Home8/10
Retains charming traditional cottage features like a stone wall boundary and cosy stove fireplace.
- Ecological Setup4/10
Has an E2 BER rating, indicating that energy efficiency upgrades would be beneficial for eco-friendly living.
- Outdoor areas8/10
Sits on a generous 0.27-acre plot with a steel garden shed, ample parking, and lovely countryside views.
Interests
9 areas- Gardening8/10
The c.0.27 acre plot provides ample scope for keen gardeners to develop the lawns and outdoor spaces.
- Walking7/10
Country roads provide walking opportunities, though the lack of dedicated footpaths immediately outside requires caution.
- Gym3/10
No gym facilities on-site; residents must travel to nearby Kilcullen or larger towns for fitness centres.
- Cycling6/10
Scenic rural roads are popular for cycling enthusiasts, though traffic on connector routes should be minded.
- Golf5/10
There are local golf courses within a reasonable driving distance in County Kildare.
- Fishing4/10
Proximity to local rivers offers some angling potential, but buyers should verify specific local fishing rights and spots.
- Horse Riding8/10
Located in the heart of Kildare, an area renowned for equestrian culture and local stables.
- Water Sports2/10
Inland location offers very limited immediate access to water sports facilities.
- Entertaining6/10
Good outdoor space and a comfortable sitting room with a stove, though indoor dining space is relatively compact.
Lifestyle
5 areas- Quiet Living9/10
Located in a countryside setting with rolling views and a traditional stone wall boundary, providing a tranquil environment.
- Rural Living10/10
Set on a 0.27-acre site surrounded by Kildare countryside and farmland, perfectly suited for a rural lifestyle.
- Village Living7/10
Close to local amenities in Kilcullen and Crookstown Village, offering a strong sense of community accessibility.
- Coastal Living1/10
The property is located inland in County Kildare, far from any coastal areas.
- Urban Living2/10
Rural setting means urban conveniences are not immediately on the doorstep, requiring travel to larger towns or Dublin.
Social
6 areas- Community Involvement7/10
Proximity to Crookstown Village and Kilcullen fosters good opportunities to engage with local clubs and community groups.
- Café Culture5/10
Local villages offer a small selection of cafes, but extensive cafe culture requires trips to larger commercial hubs.
- Nightlife3/10
Very limited local nightlife beyond traditional country pubs in the surrounding villages.
- Health/Wellness groups5/10
Basic wellness and community classes are available in nearby towns, but options are localized.
- Networking Opportunities3/10
Rural setting provides minimal direct networking infrastructure compared to urban centres.
- Tech-Hub Connectivity3/10
Not located near a recognized tech hub, though remote connectivity relies on home internet setups.
Listing information
- Agent
- Dowling Property
- Phone
- 045 482 189
- Current status
- active
- Published on HouseDelve
- 10 November 2026
- Correction
- Report an issue
HD-9C5C04HouseDelve · Republic of IrelandReport checks
Sources used: Public marketplace, Property Price Register, and grounded web research where available.
Automated quality checks: Passed
* Estimate — not advice. Actual costs and outcomes can vary materially. Obtain current quotations and professional advice before making financial or property decisions.