Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 401: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the position regarding a matter (details supplied); the exemptions, if any, available for the elderly, particularly when the second home is not occupied; the date on which this will have to be paid in 2011; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26469/10]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The €200 non-principal private residence charge was introduced in the Local Government (Charges) Act 2009, which came into force in July 2009. As an exceptional measure for the year of introduction, the liability date for the charge was fixed at 31 July 2009. The Act provides that the liability date for 2010 and future years is 31 March. Payment does not fall due until two months after the liability date and there is a further one month's grace period before penalties for late payment commence.

The Act has a starting position of universal liability for residential property in respect of the charge, but exempts certain buildings and owners from this liability. The most important exemption applies where a property is occupied by the owner as his or her sole or main residence on the liability date.

Further exemptions include buildings that are newly constructed but unsold and form part of the trading stock of a business; buildings with heritage merit; those let directly or indirectly by local authorities for social housing or by voluntary housing bodies; buildings which are the subject of a shared ownership arrangement with local authorities and buildings in respect of which commercial rates are paid. In addition, exemptions apply where a person is temporarily in possession of two properties while in the process of moving home; where a charity owns the property and where a spouse or ex-spouse has an interest in a property after a divorce or separation agreement but does not reside there. Granny flats and principal private residences that have to be vacated due to long-term illness are also exempt if certain criteria are fulfilled.