Waiving away householders’ right of appeal
CALLS have been made for Environment Minister Phil Hogan to introduce an appeals mechanism for waivers on the property tax after it emerged that local authorities had recommended 144 more housing estates for exemptions which were not sanctioned by the Department of the Environment.
The exclusion of a large number of unfinished estates from waivers for the controversial new tax was criticised yesterday by some TDs and councillors.
It followed the revelation by the Irish Examiner that at least 144 housing developments were not granted waivers despite being recommended for whole or part exemptions by their local authority.
Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act showed these estates located in 10 council areas were not included in a list of 423 estates granted waivers by Mr Hogan in March.
About 3,500 residents live on the 144 estates which missed out on the exemptions, although not all would have been eligible for waivers. The figures exclude data on Cork County Council which received the largest number of actual waivers of any local authority.
Kildare TD Catherine Murphy said the absence of an appeals mechanism was “a huge failure”.
“It makes no sense that householders can challenge how much property tax they pay but cannot appeal their exclusion from a waiver.”
A total of 28 of 47 estates recommended for waivers by Kildare County Council were not approved. The independent TD said they included developments which were affected by the problem of pyrite.
While 1,322 developments covering 43,000 households were given waivers for the €100 household charge, the waivers for the property tax only benefit around 5,100 households.
“Many residents, who are already struggling to pay their mortgages, are angry because they are also having to pay a management fee for an unfinished estate, while still being asked to pay property tax to their local council,” said Ms Murphy.
However, she claimed local authorities were also being used as a scapegoat by Mr Hogan. “It is clear the Department of Environment took the position to only allow the absolute minimum number of housing estates to be exempt from the property tax.”
Wexford councillor Malcolm Byrne also called on the minister to introduce an appeals mechanism for developments which warranted a waiver.
The Fianna Fáil councillor said he understood that Wexford County Council had disagreed with the criteria set down by the department for exemptions from the tax.
Out of 39 estates proposed by the council, only 28 were approved.
“It’s clear that local authorities around the country applied the guidelines differently.”
Mr Byrne said he was aware of a number of estates in the Courtown area which were suffering major problems with raw sewage that were still not considered for a waiver.
Documents seen by the Irish Examiner show the department issued a circular to all 34 city and county councils on Feb 7 advising them on the basis for which households in unfinished developments could be granted waivers lasting up to 2016.
Exemptions from the tax represent a substantial saving for residents. The owner of a property with a value between €150,000 and €200,000 faces an annual property tax of €315 in a full year and a total bill of around €1,100 for the duration of the waiver.
The department instructed local authorities that it would be adopting a new, standardised and more consistent basis for granting exemptions from the new tax.
It stressed that only households in unfinished developments in a “seriously problematic condition” in the 2012 National Housing Development Survey would be considered. This categorisation applied to around 1,100 of 1,770 estates listed in the survey.
Furthermore, waivers would only be considered for developments which contained complete occupied or vacant dwellings and which were incomplete “to a substantial extent” in relation to public infrastructure and amenities including roads, water services, public lighting and amenity areas.
The circular also clearly shows that the department was anxious not to face the wrath of any residents not deemed eligible for a waiver from the property tax. It states in underlined terms that the department will not deal with any queries from the public on the issue and that “local authorities should not direct any such queries to the department”.
The desire of the minister to avoid any political fallout from decisions over waivers for the tax is also evident by the fact that no appeals mechanism was approved.
Another document shows a senior department official stating that the final decision on granting waivers rested with local authorities.
However, it is clear from documents released under FoI legislation that several councils submitted revised lists of estates recommended for waivers following consultation with department officials.
A spokesman for Mr Hogan said yesterday that the number of waivers proposed by some councils was queried as it appeared they exceeded the number of developments categorised as “in a seriously problematic condition” in their area based on the 2012 survey.
Mr Hogan’s spokesman said waivers for the household charges were based on developments that were seeking funding for public safety measures, developer-abandoned and construction activity levels.
He stressed the waiver for the property tax used different criteria.
“There are a number of estates, that were not included in the waiver for the household charge as there was some type of site activity at the time, that are now exempted from the [property tax] as they are in a seriously problematic condition,” said the spokesperson.
He claimed there was no intention to consider an appeals process as the focus of Mr Hogan and Housing Minister Jan O’Sullivan was to oversee the process of having site resolution plans put in place to deal with the remaining problematic estates.
