COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, May 08, 2023
QUESTION NO.5
QUESTION: Councillor Carly Bailey
To ask the Chief Executive for a report on Compulsory Purchase Orders relating to vacant/derelict homes instigated by SDCC over the last five years. Report to include the challenges/barriers of using a CPO.
REPLY:
South Dublin County has the current lowest national vacancy rate in the state at 1.4% and Tallaght Central is the electoral area with the lowest national vacancy rate at 0.7%. Through our Vacant Homes Office, the Council maintains a register of potentially vacant, privately-owned homes that are monitored and investigated on an ongoing basis to assess the potential to use the various support schemes available to bring such properties back in to productive use. There are currently 62 properties being monitored on the Vacant Homes Register, shown below by electoral area:
Electoral Area | No. of Properties |
Clondalkin | 15 |
Firhouse/ Bohernabreena | 9 |
Lucan/Palmerstown | 5 |
Rathfarnham/ Templeogue | 14 |
Tallaght South | 7 |
Tallaght Central | 12 |
Totals | 62 |
Upon investigation, and where ownership is established, it generally transpires that most properties reported as vacant/derelict either have occupiers, are currently in the process of being sold/renovated or are subject to probate/receivership processes. Where this is not the case, the status of each property is then reviewed regularly along with follow-ups to encourage owners to engage with the Council and find solutions for any genuinely vacant/derelict properties.
The national Vacant Homes Action Plan, launched in January 2023, consolidates the various strands of work to address vacancy, with data on progress and delivery to date and actions being pursued. This Action Plan includes objective 19.5 from Housing for All which provides for the introduction of a new programme for the CPO of vacant properties for resale on the open market. Under this Programme, local authorities are now required to adopt a proactive, planned and systematic approach to the identification and activation of vacant and derelict properties.The main steps of the Programme include:
Acquired properties may subsequently be used for social housing, made available for sale on the open market or used for other purposes e.g. community use and the Department of Housing,m Local Government and Heritage has set a target for this Council for 25 vacant and derelict properties to enter the Compulsory Acquisitions Programme in 2023 with 4 compulsory acquisitions to commence in 2023.
The Council has a range of legislative powers available to deal with under-utilised and derelict properties including legislation pertaining to compulsory purchase and derelict sites. Derelict sites legislation has been reasoanbly well utilised in South Dublin in recent years with six properties vested by the Council under that legislation and this option will continue to be considered if alternative solutions are not arrived at to address the vacancy. Last July, the Council published notice of our intention to compulsorily acquire a further four properties in Tallaght under the Derelict Sites Act, 1990 which is awaiting determination by An Bord Pleanála and we have also recently acquired a derelict site in Clondalkin that will potentially be developed for housing purposes. The Derelict Sites Register remains under continuous review, including considering the use of the CPO process where appropriate.
Any potentially vacant homes can be reported through https://vacanthomes.ie/ with further information also available at www.sdcc.ie.
The Urban Regeneration and Housing Act defines a vacant site as any land (exceeding 0.05 hectares) where:
A site entered on the Council's Vacant Sites Register, and for which a market valuation has been determined pursuant to the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act, 2015, is liable for a vacant site levy. However, in line with the prescribed legislation, an owner may appeal the levy imposed to An Bord Pleanála, and similarly where in any year there is a change in ownership of a vacant site, then the amount of vacant site levy to be charged in respect of that site for that year, and for the preceding year, is zero, which means that the Vacant Sites register for the past 5 years is "fluid" to a certain extent.
There are currently five sites included in the vacant sites register which is published by the Council at the following link: https://www.sdcc.ie/en/services/planning/vacant-sites/. The Vacant Sites register and levy will be replaced by the Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT) over the coming years but the levy will continue to apply and accrue until the charge on land associated with the RZLT is levied in accordance with relevant legislation. Any outstanding charges in respect of the vacant site levy will remain against the land in question to be collected by the Council.