No planning required to change commercial buildings to housing
Under new regulations being drafted by the Department of Housing, owners of empty commercial buildings will be able to convert their properties into apartments without seeking planning permission. Vacant residential buildings can already be brought back into use without seeking planning permission as long as no major alterations to the building’s structure are required. However, the owner of a building previously used as a shop or offices must have planning permission to turn their property into housing.
Terry Sheridan, Principal Officer at the Department of Housing, said the department intended to seek Oireachtas approval to make the conversion of vacant commercial buildings to residential use exempt from planning permission. “If the development is exempt from planning permission therefore it would also be exempt from development contributions. In Dublin the average development contribution for a 1,000sq m property is about €8,000 to €9,000; that’s a significant cost.”
The department is proposing to keep the exemption in place until 2021, but may extend it if it delivers significant numbers of new homes. Mr Sheridan was speaking at the Empty Homes Conference in Croke Park on Thursday, organised by the Peter McVerry Trust. The trust is seeking a tax on empty homes to encourage owners to bring vacant housing back into use.
“We strongly believe in the merits of an empty homes tax because it will encourage the owners of empty homes to either take up existing grant schemes or place their properties on the market,” said Pat Doyle, chief executive of Peter McVerry Trust. “Ultimately an empty homes tax will result in an increased number of homes to rent, to buy and to be used for social housing.”
