Opposition leaders compare rental units in gardens to tenements and bedsits

The Government wants garden dwellings to be rented out privately, but tenants would not be covered by the Residential Tenancies Acts. File picture

Opposition leaders compared a plan to allow rental units in gardens to tenements and bedsits during Leaders' Questions on Tuesday.

The Government plans to exempt garden homes between 32 and 45sq m from planning permission.

The proposal, which went before Cabinet on Tuesday, aims to offer “an added layer of potential supply” in the rental market and to “free up the planning system” from an over-concentration on smaller developments, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said.

The Government wants to allow these dwellings to be rented out privately, however those tenants would not be covered by the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004–2026.

The proposal is to be reviewed after 18 months.

Asked on Tuesday about whether there were figures on how many units the Government expects to be built under the exemption, housing minister James Browne said: “It’s about simplification, it’s not about trying to extrapolate how many there’s going to be.”

Labour leader Ivana Bacik described the cabins as “shed-sits”, while Holly Cairns of the Social Democrats said: “This is a return to tenement conditions which were rampant in the worst years of this State, it should not be tolerated.” 

Ms Cairns said that because those living in the units would be licensees rather than tenants, they will have “no security of tenure, no statutory notice periods, no rent controls and no access to the RTB [Residential Tenancies Board].

“Renters are being thrown to the wolves, and this Government is telling them they should be happy about it, it is outrageous.” 

In response, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said he had a “relentless, relentless focus” on housing supply.

He claimed the Social Democrats had opposed “all supply measures in this house for the last number of years.” 

Mr Martin said the Social Democrats had supported plans to allow the construction of the garden homes for use by family members.

“If it’s just for family members,” he asked, “are they no longer cabins?

“You know, you had very derogatory language when you said they were for rent.

“But if the very same structures were built for family members, what are they?” 

The Government was bringing in the measures, Mr Martin said, because “planning bureaucracy has slowed us down in terms of house provision”.

He said it would “speed up delivery of additional units, maximise existing housing stocks” and free up “local authority resources for large scale projects”.