Book Offer
This will close in 10 seconds
Owners of modular garden rooms will be allowed to charge market rents under new plans formally brought before the Oireachtas.
The proposals were brought to the Oireachtas housing committee this week by junior housing minister John Cummins.
The Committee heard that the published plans will help some of those across the country “who find themselves tied up in unnecessary bureaucracy when trying to make modest, practical, and sensible changes to their properties.”
Irish homeowners will now be allowed to charge market rents for modular units in their back gardens – after the Government dropped plans to cap annual rental income at €14,000.
It is understood that back garden modular units will be treated as if they were rooms “within the four walls” of a house rented under the Rent a Room scheme.
Amid questions over whether back garden accommodation could be rented by anyone or just family members, TD John Cummins said on Tuesday that such units could be rented out by “carers, students, and workers” alike.
The proposal sparked concern back in March, when Independent TD Mattie McGrath told Gript that Government plans to relax planning permission for modular homes in back gardens should be matched with “amnesties” for those ordered to remove mobile and modular homes on their own land.
It had been expected that such an exemption could be introduced this summer – but the exempted development regulations must first go through the Oireachtas Housing Committee.
The Clonmel TD said that while he welcomed a relaxation in planning permission requirements, the plan could pose problems for both home owners and renters.
“It’s not a straightforward solution. You can’t just open a modular home to anybody in your backyard, because that’s just inviting issues. I think it is a good proposal for family members and people you know and trust,” said the TD.
The Tipperary politician said that while any measures that would alleviate stress on people during a housing shortage is to be welcomed, he referred to the case of local man Seán Meehan and others who have faced costly legal challenges for building mobile and modular homes on the land they own.
Mr Meehan, 67, has been embroiled in a 4-and-a-half year dispute with Tipperary County Council who ordered him to remove a mobile home encased in wood which he built on his own land to house himself after he separated from his wife and their home was sold.
“In his case, the mobile home was well back from the road. It is not intrusive, and it blends in well to the scenery with a timber finish,” said the TD, who has supported Mr Meehan. “He has been to court seven or eight times – it’s just not right.”
Housing charity Threshold also said it had concerns that the new regulations would result in a new category of renter that sits outside the protections of the Residential Tenancies Act.
The new rules will also mean that householders will be able to add a detached residential unit linked to the main property, without planning permission, as long as it measures between 32sq m and 45sq m.
Another exemption will enable an existing home to be subdivided into two self-contained units. Each unit must have a minimum floor area of 32sq m.
A dormer roof box and / or roof lights will also be permitted as an addition to a principal residence without needing planning permission.
The rural planning rules, announced in June, are a separate set of regulations.
Deputy Cummins told the Oireachtas that he expects the legislation underpinning the regulations will come into force on July 27.
This will close in 10 seconds