A plan to introduce a cap on the value of homes eligible for the State’s vacant property grant has been scrapped.
There had been some controversy over a Department of Housing proposal that would have set a cap of €650,000 on the value of properties that were eligible for the grant in Dublin, Wicklow, Meath and Kildare.
It would have meant that 22 per cent of applications from the Greater Dublin Area for the grant, which pays up to €50,000 to those renovating vacant properties or €70,000 for derelict ones, would be ineligible.
The same proposal would have also set a cap of €500,000 on the value of homes which could avail of the grant in the rest of the country, but it is understood this would have affected less than 3 per cent of applications outside of the Greater Dublin Area.
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The Irish Times reported last week that the proposal was being developed for Cabinet, with a view to it being considered by Ministers before Christmas.
A memo which will go to Cabinet this week on the vacant property refurbishment grant, however, no longer includes any plans to set a cap on the value of homes that can avail of it.
Instead, Ministers will consider extending the grant to 2030 and introducing a new vacant above the shop grant to convert unused properties above retail units into residential accommodation.
Like the vacant property grant, the new grant for spaces above shops will apply to properties where the upper floors have been vacant for at least two years.
Those who are approved for the grant will be able to receive €95,000 where one residential unit is created, and an additional €20,000 if a second residential unit is created within the same unit.
There will also be an extra €20,000 granted for three or more units, as well as €5,000 available to cover professional advice on the above-the-shop conversions.
Additional top-ups of €40,000 on the existing vacant property grant level are also to be approved where an entire commercial property is being converted into residential use. Local authorities will also be expected to receive additional funding, to help quickly process applications for the scheme.
Fine Gael TD for Dublin Bay South James Geoghegan had raised concerns about the proposed cap for the vacant property grant in the Dáil on Tuesday.
He said such a cap would have a “hugely disproportionate impact on Dublin”, where he said close to one in four properties now under the application would not be eligible to receive the grant.
Mr Geoghegan, who is also his party’s spokesman on Dublin, said he hoped a decision was not taken to cap the grant at a level that would reduce the number of houses eligible, “particularly at a time where the Minister for Housing has acknowledged that dereliction in its own right is a form of antisocial behaviour and we’re trying to get people back living in the city centre”.
