Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

883. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the reason a residential estate (details supplied), which is on the list of exempted estates for the local property tax, was previously not exempt from the household charge; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that this has caused confusion among residents; if the estate will be retrospectively exempt from the household charge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11463/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011 provides the legislative basis for the household charge. Under the Act, an owner of a residential property on the liability date of 1 January 2012 is liable to pay the household charge, unless otherwise exempted or entitled to claim a waiver.

Section 4(4)(b) and section 4(6) of the Act provide that a waiver from the charge applies in 2012 and 2013 to properties in certain unfinished housing estates specified in a list prescribed by the Minister. As part of the process of preparing the National Housing Survey 2011, published by my Department in October 2011, local authorities provided details of all unfinished housing developments in their areas. Unfinished housing developments were divided into one of four categories, as follows:

-Category one, where the development is still being actively completed by the developer, or where no serious public safety issues exist;

-Category two, where a receiver has been appointed;

-Category three, where a receiver has not been appointed and the developer is still in place but effectively inactive; and

-Category four, where the development has been effectively abandoned and is posing serious public safety issues for residents.

Only households in developments in categories three and four are eligible for the waiver from payment of the household charge. The development in question was categorised by Cork County Council as a category one development and as such was not eligible for a waiver from the household charge. The list of developments in which households are eligible for the waiver is set out under the Local Government (Household Charge)(Amendment) Regulations 2013.

An exemption from the Local Property Tax (LPT) applies to developments listed in the Schedule to the Finance (Local Property Tax) Regulations 2013. The list of unfinished housing developments eligible for the exemption was compiled by local authorities based on data from the National Housing Survey 2012, which was carried out over the course of summer 2012 by my Department in conjunction with local authorities and the Housing Agency. A similar approach to that which applied to the waiver of the Household Charge was followed but using the revised methodology used in the 2012 Survey which included a new criterion identifying developments in a “seriously problematic condition” and to which the LPT waiver was applied.

The administration of issues relating to unfinished housing developments is a matter for individual local authorities. Each local authority has appointed an Unfinished Housing Development co-ordinator; contact details can be found at: