Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Finance the exemptions that are in place under the local property tax for people with disabilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15664/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 (as amended) includes provisions that provide exemption or relief from Local Property Tax (LPT) for certain properties which have been adapted by disabled persons, depending on the circumstances involved. Section 10B of the 2012 Act (as inserted by the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Act 2013) provides an exemption from LPT for a residential property purchased, built or adapted to make it suitable for occupation by a permanently and totally incapacitated individual as their sole or main residence, where an award has been made by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board or a court, or where a trust has been established, specifically for the benefit of such individuals. In the case of adaptations to a property, the exemption will only apply where the cost of the adaptations exceeds 25% of the market value of the property before it is adapted. The exemption ends if the property is sold and the incapacitated individual no longer occupies it as his or her sole or main residence.

Section 15A of the 2012 Act (as amended) provides for a reduction in the market value of a residential property that has been adapted for occupation by a disabled person where the adaptation has been grant-aided by a local authority. The person with the disability must occupy the property as his or her sole or main residence after the adaptation is completed. The reduction in value is limited to the lesser of the chargeable value attributable to the adaptation work carried out on the property and the maximum grant payable under the relevant local authority scheme.

The relief is dependent on local authority grant aid being paid under S.I. 607 of 2001 or S.I. 670 of 2007. The 2001 regulations cover adaptation work carried out on or after 1 March 1993 and on foot of applications received by a local authority up to 1 November 2007 at which stage S.I. 670 of 2007 came into effect. This relief ends on the sale or transfer of a property that has been adapted, unless the person with the disability continues to reside in the property.