Written answers

Tuesday, 18 December 2018

Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government

Non-Principal Private Residence Charge Administration

Photo of Brendan GriffinBrendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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652. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his views on a matter (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52730/18]

Photo of Eoghan MurphyEoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Local Government (Charges) Act 2009, as amended, provides the legislative basis for the Non-Principal Private Residence (NPPR) charge. The NPPR charge, which has since been discontinued, applied in the years 2009 to 2013 to any residential property in which the owner did not reside as their normal place of residence.

The self-assessed charge is set at €200 per annum and liability for it falls, in the main, on owners of rental, holiday and vacant properties. Section 6 of the 2009 Act, as amended, provides that the owner of a liable property who fails to pay the charge, in addition to being liable for the charge, is liable to pay a €20 late payment fee in respect of each month or part of a month in which the charge, any late payment fee, or any part of such charge or fee, remains unpaid.

Part 12 of the Local Government Reform Act 2014 also deals with the collection of undischarged liabilities relating to the NPPR charge. The Act provided for a period from 2 March 2014 to 31 August 2014 during which time no new late penalties were applied to existing liabilities. If payment was not made in full or if settlement terms were not agreed by the end of that period, an additional late payment fee of €120 per liability date applied on 1 September 2014. As the charge applied in each of the years from 2009 to 2013, there were five liability dates – 31 July 2009 and 31 March for each of the years 2010 to 2013. In addition to this late payment fee to be applied per liability date, the entire NPPR liability is then increased by a factor of 50% and frozen.

Under the Act, it is a function of a local authority to collect NPPR charges and late payment fees due to it, and all charges and late payment fees imposed and payable to a local authority are under the care and management of the local authority concerned. In this regard, application of the legislation in particular circumstances is a matter for the relevant local authority.

In July 2009 my Department issued guidelines to local authorities to assist in implementing the Act. Included in these guidelines was advice on how property where the owner was deceased was to be treated. In effect, if probate on a property had not yet been granted, the property was to be treated as if it had no owner as there would be no person who would satisfy the definition of owner in the Act. If probate had been granted then the charge would be a liability on the estate.

Subsequently section 19(f) of the Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011 inserted section 4(7) into the Act to provide that where a person who is the sole owner of a residential property died, the personal representative of the deceased person would not be liable to the NPPR charge which fell due after the date of death of the deceased and before the date of issue of a grant of representation.

Under section 77 of the Local Government Reform Act 2014, my Department issued guidance to local authorities concerning matters relating to arrears of the NPPR charge and late payment fees to ensure that a consistent national approach is adopted. The guidelines, which are available at , encourage local authorities to take a proactive approach to ensure that any outstanding NPPR liabilities are discharged in the most equitable, efficient and economically beneficial manner and include guidance in respect of dealing with hardship cases. It is expected, in the majority of cases, that local authorities will collect the full NPPR charge liability from owners. In some cases, this may be by means of arrangement by instalment. Owners with queries may contact their local authority to discuss any matters they wish to clarify and to make any outstanding payments.

Should an initial claim of hardship be rejected by a local authority, the claimant should also be afforded, if requested, a further appeal to a more senior officer in the local authority. Ultimately, should a subsequent appeal be unsuccessful the complainant should be notified as early as is possible. Claimants should also be informed that if they are still not happy with the determination they can appeal to the Office of the Ombudsman.

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