Mica-damaged homes to be exempt from property tax

Huge protests in Dublin recently drew attention to the issue of mica-damaged homes

Mica damaged blocks

Mica-affected homes in Donegal and Mayo are to be exempt from the Local Property Tax (LPT), officials from the Department of Finance will confirm on Tuesday.

The Oireachtas Housing Committee will take evidence from the officials who will explain the basis and the rationale for the review of the tax, as announced by Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe.

In briefing material, presented in advance to the committee and seen by the Irish Examiner, officials confirm that the new amendments to the LPT act will introduce a new exemption “for mica and pyrite damaged homes in Mayo and Donegal.” 

A massive protest by mica affected homeowners from Mayo and Donegal seeking 100% redress for the faulty concrete in their homes. Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

It is estimated that some 5,000 homes are affected by mica, mostly in Mayo and Donegal. Thousands recently protested in Dublin to draw attention to the issue.

The officials will also confirm that there will be a revised method for calculating LPT liabilities, which will bring certain currently exempted and excluded properties into the reach of the tax.

The officials will confirm that all new homes built since 2013 will begin to be liable for LPT, thus ending the anomaly which has existed whereby they have remained free of the tax, whereas older homes have been hit.

In the future, property valuations are to be reviewed every four years. TDs will also hear that there will be a modification of the exemption for properties vacated by persons due to illness, as well as an increased income thresholds for deferrals and a reduction in the deferral rate of interest.

The revised bill will mean that the owner/lessor to retain liability for LPT where properties are being leased under long-term leasing arrangements by local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies, the officials will say.

TDs will hear that for liable persons (with property valued at under €1m) that Revenue would accept their self-assessments at ‘face value’ where they were valued in accordance with Revenue guidance.

In the case of properties valued at over €1million, the actual value is used instead of valuation bands.

Sinn Féin member of the committee, Cork North Central TD Thomas Gould will raise concerns that local authorities have to pay LPT on their social housing stock.

“Local authorities currently have to pay local property tax on their own social housing stock and this is very unfair because local authorities like Cork City Council will lose large sums of money because of this. Cork City Council is paying over €900,000 into the Local Property Tax which is taking away the funding for services that are badly needed in Cork,” he said.

“We oppose the local property tax doesn’t take into account ability to pay. There are fairer and more progressive ways to tax wealth. Local authorities have been starved of funding since the abolition of the Block Grant and it leaves half the Local Authorities in the state struggling to provide appropriate services,” he said.