Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance his views on whether local authority emergency or transitionary housing, unoccupied local authority units awaiting demolition or regeneration are liable for local property tax. [12818/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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For Local Property Tax (LPT) purposes, a residential property is defined as any building or structure (or part of a building) which is used as, or is suitable for use as, a dwelling and includes any shed, outhouse, garage or other building or structure and includes grounds of up to one acre. The Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 (as amended) provides that a liability for LPT will arise where a person owns a residential property on the liability date which will be 1 May 2013 for the year 2013 and for subsequent years 1 November in the preceding year.

The Act provides that local authorities will be liable to pay LPT on their properties in the same way as any other residential property owner, unless the properties are used to accommodate people who have special housing needs. Special housing needs refers to the provision of housing and support for people who have a particular need in addition to a general housing need to enable them to live in the community. I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that they are currently drawing up guidelines that will facilitate social housing providers, including local authorities, in identifying which of their properties are used to provide special needs housing and are, therefore, exempted from the charge to LPT. In keeping with the Department of Finance’s mission to play a central role in the achievement of the Government’s economic and social goals, as set out in my Department’s Annual Review of 2012 , officials of my department, along with the Revenue Commissioners, are actively engaging with social housing providers, including, for example, Focus Ireland, in this regard.

It is not possible to give a definitive view on whether local authority emergency or transitional housing will be exempt from LPT without further information on the nature of the housing and any supports provided.

As already stated, one of the criteria for liability to LPT is that a building is suitable for use as a dwelling. The fact that a building is unoccupied will not of itself mean the building is exempt from LPT. It will be a question of fact in each case whether a particular building awaiting demolition or regeneration is suitable for use as a dwelling. It is not possible to provide a general reply that will address each case; for example, a perfectly habitable property may be awaiting demolition simply because a local authority intends to re-develop an area.

The Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 (as amended) provides that where local authority owned properties are not exempt from LPT, the market value of any such property will be deemed to fall into the lowest valuation band of €0 to €100,000 up to and including 2016. This will result in an LPT charge of €45 per property for 2013 and €90 per year for 2014 to 2016. In addition, section 119 of the Act also gives local authorities until 1 January 2014 to pay the 2013 tax.

I am informed by the Revenue Commissioners that they are liaising with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to establish how local authorities will provide the Revenue Commissioners with information in relation to their LPT liability and the timing and manner of the payment of this liability.