Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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319. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the number of local authorities that operate a long-term vacant property incentive scheme for commercial rates; and if his Department encourages local authorities to operate such schemes. [16313/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Local authorities are under a statutory obligation to levy rates on the occupiers of rateable property in accordance with the details entered in the valuation lists prepared by the independent Commissioner of Valuation under the Valuation Acts 2001 to 2015.

The legislation governing commercial rates does not address incentives for long-term vacant properties.  Legislative provision is made for the refund of rates paid on vacant commercial properties in certain circumstances.  The Local Government Act 1946 provides that where a property is unoccupied on the date of the making of the rate, the owner becomes liable for rates. However, the owner is entitled to a refund if the property is vacant for specified purposes, these being if the premises are unoccupied for the purpose of additions, alterations or repairs; where the owner is bona fide unable to obtain a suitable tenant at a reasonable rent; and where the premises are vacant pending redevelopment. The collection of rates and the determination of eligibility for a refund in this context are matters for each individual local authority.

The Local Government Act 1946 provided that the owner was entitled to a 100% refund in most local authority areas.  Separate legislation governed refunds in the cities of Dublin, Limerick and Cork, where the same criteria for refunds applied but only 50% of the rates paid were refundable.

With effect from 1 June 2014, when the relevant provision commenced, the Local Government Reform Act 2014 gives discretion to the elected members of individual local authorities to vary the level of rates refunds that apply in individual local electoral areas within the authority’s administrative area. The Local Government (Financial and Audit Procedures) Regulations 2014 provide that the decision to alter the rate of refund should be taken at the annual budget meeting and that the rate of refund decided in respect of the relevant local electoral area shall apply to eligible persons for the year to which the budget relates. The absence of a decision to vary the refund means that the existing legislative provisions regarding the rate of refunds apply (either 100% or 50% as set out above).