Lower standard build-to-rent system to end in Dublin

A ban on the construction of rental-only apartments that do not meet minimum size standards is to come into force in Dublin, with the quashing of controversial build-to-rent (BTR) regulations.

Regulations introduced in 2018, by then minister for housing Eoghan Murphy, meant apartment blocks built for the rental market did not have to comply with the minimum size standards of apartments for sale, and had significantly reduced requirements for other amenities such as storage and outdoor space.

Late last year, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien indicated he intended scrap the separate standards for rental-only developments, requiring new BTR blocks to meet the same specifications as apartments in the general market.

In recent months, new guidelines, the Sustainable Urban Housing: Design Standards for New Apartments 2023, have been issued to local authorities, stating the “standard for BTR development is now the same as those for all other permitted apartment developments”.

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The guidelines include “transitional arrangements” to allow BTR applications that were already in the planning system by December 21st, 2022, to be processed.

The changes only apply to the standards in apartment developments, and complexes can still be owned by institutional investors and retained in the rental market, as long as they meet the same standards as general apartments.

Dublin City Council will now initiate the process of amending the city development plan to allow changes to take effect.

At the end of last year, less than 3,000 built to rent schemes were under construction in Dublin, and almost 9,000 more had been granted permission but with construction yet to start, according the Department of Housing. Almost 11,000 remained in the planning system, many of which are the subject of judicial review proceedings.

The council had already inserted restrictions on BTR developments in the city development plan, completed last year, which had put it at odds with the Planning Regulator.

The Dublin City Development plan for 2022-2028 states that at least 60 per cent of apartments in any BTR scheme must be “standard designed apartments”, that is, they must meet the same size and space requirements of apartments in the general housing market

In a 10-month long dispute, the Office of the Planning Regulator had instructed the council not to go ahead with restrictions as there was “no national policy grounding in the Minister’s guidelines” for specifying that a percentage of “build-to-rent developments are to be of a different set of internal design standards”.

However, the development plan, including the 60 per cent restriction, was ratified by councillors in November 2022. Around the same time, Mr O’Brien indicated he did intend to scrap the lower BTR standards, and the regulator did not take action against the council for defiance of its orders.

In a briefing to be issued to councillors on Monday, council officials said a “Government review of BTR has determined that there is now a sufficient quantum of BTR either permitted or subject to consideration within the planning system” and BTR developments are “no longer identified as a specific housing typology which, for the purposes of the planning system, requires specific guidance / design standards”.

The council’s proposal to amend the existing development plan must be advertised for a statutory public consultation period of four weeks before councillors will be asked to formally ratify the change.