Cutting red tape could bring 100,000 vacant homes back into use

Both said building controls were needed to ensure new units were habitable and safe, but they insisted bureaucracy created an additional layer of prohibitive challenges and costs that prevented bringing unused homes back into use.

Homes must meet strict standards on disabled access, energy use and safety, but Mr Reynolds said it can be unrealistic to think some 19th or 20th century buildings can achieve certain energy ratings or accessibility.

“There are conflicts with things like energy efficiency. That is something I am very interested in, but if I was to turn around and say every retrofit has to be to an A1 standard, or A3 standard, it just is not going to happen. Another issue might be around ambulant and disabled access, which again is very important, but if every stairs in every existing building has to be altered to allow ambulant disabled up to it, it’s not going to happen,” he said.

“If a stairs has been there for 100 years and has worked OK, we need to take a deep breath and ask what is better. Is it better to be perfect, or better to get people in?

“We need to find a middle ground because if you go to Paris, or Spain, a lot of apartment buildings don’t have lifts at all. Planning isn’t a problem, fire certs aren’t a problem, but there are other things we need to look at.”

Prof Hegarty said the system needed to be streamlined but independent control mechanisms must be retained to prevent poor standards or unsafe restorations.

“If you need a fire cert and you need to talk to the conservation officer about historic features in the building, or you need to talk to the planner about whether there is parking or outdoor space, or the disability access (office) about whether you need a lift or not, instead of having four separate processes you should have a system whereby you pay the local authority and they all sit around a table with you and you get a pragmatic solution.

“You might come to resolutions such as them saying: ‘OK, you don’t need a lift and we can accept that staircase, but we want you to put in a lobby for fire safety or an escape window in the bedroom so somebody can be rescued.’

“You might not have a lift but you might make the bathroom accessible so that if someone has mobility problems they might not use the stairs that often, but could use the bathroom several times per day.

“There are a whole series of wins in this. Up until a generation ago people lived in towns above shops and on commercial streets. This type of space is very good and available for smaller households.” 

The Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers (IPAV) chief executive Pat Davitt believes the Government should offer incentives to make vacant rural homes more attractive.

“A grant of up to €50,000 or €70,000 depending on the prices of the house would be a huge help to people. The Government need to get these back into use. They also need to incentivise people to sell the homes, so a temporary exemption on capital gains tax for some vacant homes in rural areas would make a significant difference,” Mr Davitt said.

A spokesman for the Department of Housing said the Government was making efforts to bring vacant stock back into use, with new regulations being finalised to exempt certain buildings from the requirement to obtain planning permission when being converted to residential use.

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien “acknowledges the complexities and prohibitive costs involved which oftentimes act as a disincentive for people to refurbish and make productive use of” vacant sites, the spokesman added.

“Guidance relating to protected structures to encourage the use of such properties for repurposing and/or refurbishment as residential accommodation will be developed” later this year.

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