Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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179. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if there are supports for owners of commercial premises which have been vacant for a long time to allow them to install the necessary services within the building to rent it out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49283/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Planning regulations, introduced in 2018, which provide a temporary exemption for certain vacant commercial premises, including shops, services, offices, and guesthouses; from requiring planning permission to change to residential purposes such as ‘over the shop’ living, have been extended until 2025. The scope of the exemption was also extended to include ‘public houses’.

An analysis undertaken by my Department on the housing data related to the Planning & Development (Amendment) Regulations 2018, indicates over 600 notifications received from developers intending to avail of the exemption in the four years to 2021, which, if enacted, would result in c 1400 homes being provided.

Owners of vacant commercial properties may be able to avail of the Repair and Leasing Scheme (RLS). RLS provides an upfront loan, to a maximum of €60,000 (including VAT) per unit, to owners of vacant properties which require work to bring the units up to the required standard for rental properties and have been assessed by the local authority as being required for social housing.

Under the Repair and Leasing Scheme, the local authority, or approved housing body, pays for the repairs upfront and the home is taken into social housing stock by way of lease for a period of between 5 and 25 years. The cost of repairs is offset against reduced lease payments to the property owner.

Owners of vacant commercial units who wish to bring their property back into use as social housing may apply to the relevant local authority under the Repair and Leasing Scheme.