100% tax hike plan for vacant homes

Thousands of property owners who keep homes empty for more than two years could face 100% tax hikes in a bid to force them to release houses onto the rental market.

A Government TD has proposed the controversial tax, alongside separate plans for local councils to turn empty commercial units into Apollo House-style residential properties, in order to tackle the growing housing crisis.

Despite the linked house price, rental, and homelessness problems continuing to escalate across the country, latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show that up to 240,000 residential properties are currently empty in Ireland.

When summer holiday home numbers are removed, these figures show there are 193,000 properties which could be used as homes but are instead lying idle without anyone living in them.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Fine Gael’s Fergus O’Dowd said the situation is unacceptable and must be addressed in light of the burgeoning housing, rental, and homelessness crisis across the country.

In a bid to highlight the situation, he said he will put a private member’s bill before the Dáil in the next month, seeking to double the property tax for anyone who owns a home which has been empty for at least two years — a position which would cost householders thousands of euro a year.

“This is based on UK legislation and legislation in Vancouver in the west of Canada, where there were powers given to local authorities to charge people more for holding on to empty properties,” he said.

“I don’t want to go after people with holiday homes, or people in hospital or nursing homes for two years who have legitimate reasons for their properties staying empty, but I do think with other properties there is no reason why they should be vacant for two years or more.

“There are 36,000 vacant properties in Dublin alone, the country has never been in this space before,” he said.

Mr O’Dowd said the same private member’s bill may also include plans for local authorities to be funded to turn commercial sites which have been empty for a number of years into residential units, in a move similar to the Apollo House campaign in Dublin.

He said the policy would help to “rejuvenate derelict areas” in towns and cities.

While neither plan has received Government backing and both are likely to be strongly opposed by owners of multiple properties, the calls are likely to gain attention as concern mounts over Ireland’s housing crisis.

Meanwhile, the AAA-PBP is to table an anti-eviction private member’s bill tomorrow seeking to close “loopholes” used to evict tenants before a sale or rent increase.

Ruth Coppinger of AAA-PBP said any sale of a residential campus should not unduly affect tenants, and landlords should in future have to pay six months’ rent in compensation to move a sitting tenant out in favour of a relative.

The Government is due to oppose the bill.