Dublin City Council to spend €15m buying unused sites

Dublin City Council is to spend €15 million over the next three years buying derelict houses and vacant sites from owners who have failed to use or develop them.

Councillors will next month be presented with a three-year capital plan that sets out a fund of €5 million a year to buy properties from the Derelict Sites Register, or the new Vacant Land Register, using compulsory purchase powers where necessary.

In recent weeks the council has started the process of buying 11 derelict houses using compulsory purchase orders, but will try to buy properties through agreement with the owners where possible.

The council does not intend to use the properties for social housing, but instead will sell on the sites and houses. In some cases the council will carry out work on the property to make it a stronger prospect on the market. It may also sell some of the properties with “development briefs” depending on the needs of the particular area.

The Derelict Sites Register, set up under legislation in 1990 to stop property owners from neglecting their buildings and sites, allows the council to buy properties using compulsory purchase orders.

The derelict sites unit carried out 744 inspections in 2015, sent 245 warning letters to property owners and placed 21 sites on the register.

At the same time 20 sites were removed from the register, having been rendered “non-derelict”, the council said.

There are currently 54 sites on the register. Last month the council identified 16 houses from the list and put the owners on notice of compulsory purchase; as a result, five owners have either put their houses on sale or started work on the properties.

Vacant land levy

Separately, an audit of vacant land in the inner city has identified 169 sites, totalling almost 72 hectares in Dublin city centre which be could be charged with the new vacant land levy designed to combat land hoarding.

Any plot of land more than 0.05 of a hectare in size, excluding gardens, which has been vacant for more than 12 months will be eligible for the levy, set at 3 per cent a year. The levy will not be payable by site owners until 2019, but local authorities must establish their vacant land register next year to give property owners time to appeal.

Of the 169 sites, 40, or a total of 13 hectares, are owned by the council. The remaining 129 are either privately owned or owned by State agencies.

While the council owns 24 per cent of the sites, or 18 per cent of the land mass, it said most of these sites, particularly larger plots, were planned for housing developments, including lands at O’Devaney Gardens and Infirmary Road in Dublin 7.

A large site on Bridgefoot Street in Dublin 8 which had previously been designated for housing has recently been zoned by councillors for a public park.

Local authorities will have to use the funds collected through the levy for the provision of housing or other amenities in the vicinity of the vacant site.