Proposed exemptions to garden cabins open to abuse by landlords, warns TD

The party's spokesperson for housing has said the draft proposals do not provide protection against 'unscrupulous landlords' from building substandard sheds in back gardens and charging extortionate rents.

Government proposals to provide planning exemptions for cabin or modular-style structures in back gardens is open to abuse by landlords, according to Sinn Féin's Eoin Ó Broin.

The party's spokesperson for housing has said the draft proposals do not provide protection against "unscrupulous landlords" from building substandard sheds in back gardens and charging extortionate rents.

While greater flexibility in planning rules for structures is welcome, Mr Ó Broin said it is vital that any flexibility is for use by family members and not the private rental market.

"As we set out in our submission to the consultation, we believe that this can be achieved by allowing such extensions to be ‘open for consideration’ rather than exempted developments. This would give families the flexibility they need while protecting renters," he said.

This would allow the local authority, if it is to grant permission, to apply a legally binding condition that it can only be used for direct family members living in the family home.

"That would explicitly prohibit the use of the structure for short-term letting or for private rental," he added.

"It is the only way to provide the protections against unscrupulous landlords, while providing families with the flexibility they likely need to provide some level of accommodation for those direct family members."

'Development free-for-all'

It was acknowledged that the minister of state for planning, John Cummins, has stated publicly that the changes would only apply to those who wanted to provide accommodation for family members.

However, Mr Ó Broin said that the draft proposals do not include any such provision that would prevent exploitation by landlords and there is no mention of any safeguards in documentation published by the department.

"An exempted development free-for-all to allow anybody to put a 45m² cabin in a garden without any conditions on the terms of use? That is not good, particularly for hard-pressed renters," the Dublin TD said.

All exempted development regulations must be brought to the Oireachtas housing committee for scrutiny, and Mr Ó Broin is calling for two or three meetings on the matter.

He said that, as there are a number of quite technical exempted development regulation proposals, Sinn Féin would like to see greater scrutiny before they are introduced.

Mr Ó Broin said it would also allow the committee to hear from third parties such as the Irish Planning Institute, the Town Planning Institute, the Royal Institute of Architects, and other stakeholders.