Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1819. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the way the vacant site levy will operate and impact on persons who own such sites in County Kildare; if a list of such sites is available; if landowners will be notified if their plot is listed; the exemptions to having a site listed as vacant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1668/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015 introduced a new measure, the vacant site levy, which is aimed at incentivising the development of vacant, under-utilised sites in urban areas.  Under the Act, planning authorities are required to establish a register of vacant sites in their area.  The levy will be applied by planning authorities, commencing on 1 January 2019 in respect of sites which were vacant and on the vacant site register during the year 2018, and will subsequently be applied on an annual basis thereafter, as long as a site remains on the vacant site register in the preceding year.

Planning authorities are empowered to apply an annual vacant site levy of 3% of the market value of vacant sites, exceeding 0.05 hectares in area, which, in the planning authority’s opinion, were vacant or idle in the preceding year, in areas identified by the planning authority in its development plan or local area plan for residential or regeneration development.

Reduced or zero rates of levy may apply in specific circumstances in order to help alleviate the financial burden faced by owners of vacant sites which are subject to a site loan and where the loan is greater than the market value of the site (i.e. a negative equity situation), and also where the site loan is greater than 50% of the market value of the site.

The planning authority, or the Valuation Tribunal on appeal, may also deem that a vacant site has a zero market value where no market exists for the site or the site is contaminated land and the necessary remediation costs in order to use or develop the site exceed the market value of the site itself.  In addition, where there is a change in ownership of a vacant site, or on the death of the owner of a site, the amount of levy chargeable on such site in respect of that year or the previous year shall be zero.

The Act provides that the planning authority will notify owners of vacant sites at various stages throughout the process, including when the planning authority intends to enter the vacant site on the register, when it has been entered on the register and when the levy falls due for payment.  Owners of vacant sites may make submissions to the planning authority in respect of their sites at various stages in the process.  There are also a number of appeals provisions, including an appeal against the entry of a site on the register, an appeal of market value determination of a site and appeal against demand for payment of the levy.

Vacant site registers were established in January 2017 by planning authorities and planning authorities are engaging in the necessary preparatory work, prior to the application of the levy with effect from January 2019 in respect of sites identified on the register in 2018.  As required under the Act, this includes the identification of specific vacant sites for entry on the register as well as the registered owners of the sites in question along with undertaking a site valuation. 

My Department does not maintain a central register of vacant sites as each local authority administers the vacant site register in respect of their functional area.  As provided for under the Act, the register in respect of Kildare County Council is available for inspection at its offices and online on its website, at .

My Department continues to monitor and engage with local authorities in relation to  implementation of the vacant site levy and, as recently as 8 November 2017, held a seminar with authorities in this regard.

As part of Budget 2018, an increase in the rate of the levy was announced.  Under the new arrangements, the levy will be applied at the rate of 3 per cent of the market value of a vacant site from January 2019 for sites entered on the vacant site register of a local authority in 2018.  For vacant sites on the register for a second and subsequent years, an increased 7 per cent rate of levy will be applied.  I am intending to bring forward the necessary legislative amendments to give effect to these rate changes in the near future.