FF wants rebate for ‘twice’ taxed residents

Homeowners pay property tax AND admin fees

HOMEOWNERS saddled with both residential management fees and the property tax should get a €300 rebate, Fianna Fáil has proposed.

The party estimates its plan would apply to an estimated 500,000 people across the country who are living in estates and apartment blocks which charge residents a flat fee towards costs such as road maintenance, gardening and street lighting.

Fianna Fáil housing spokesman Darragh O’Brien said these people are effectively paying twice, given that many of these expenses are normally covered by the local property tax (LPT). Mr O’Brien said his Bill, which was debated in the Dáil last night, ‘aims to make our local property tax fairer’ for those who are ‘effectively paying for some services on the double’. ‘Fairer’: Darragh O’Brien

‘There are more than 200,000 apartments and tens of thousands of other homes nationwide whose owners all fork out management fees to service the property,’ Mr O’Brien said.

He added: ‘We’ve tried to get Government to recognise this fact, to allow some kind of a reasonable reduction on princi- pal private residences, so in family homes where their management fees are paid in full there would be a reduction in their LPT of about a third, to a maximum of about €300.

‘The overall cost of this, should everyone who is eligible take this up, would be about €17million. It’s part of a suite of measures that we have been working on, to improve the lot of those who are living in managed estates, apartments, multi-unit developments, many of who are struggling financially.’

He continued: ‘We would also see it as a small incentive in some way, to ensure that those who are living there are paying their management fees as well, because it is only applicable to those who are fully paid up. It would be a self-declared tax.’

A Government review of the LPT began in January 2018, but the report has not yet been published. Fianna Fáil initially made the proposal as part of its submission to that review, and has criticised the Government for failing to release the report.

‘We did say a number of months ago that Government would hold on to this review until as close to the local elections as possible, to use the review for political reasons,’ Mr O’Brien said. Fianna Fáil finance spokesman Michael McGrath said he had expected the review of the LPT rates to be introduced in last year’s budget, given they were due to take effect in 2019.

‘We’re not sure what the reason for the delay is... We made our submission and expected that the outcome would be revealed in the budget last October; that didn’t happen,’ he said. A Government spokesman said it had asked that the new Bill be delayed for six months, when a second reading of the proposal will take place, to allow for the review of the LPT.

The spokesman said the Bill contains some contradictions and ‘may require further study’.

‘Not sure of reason for delay’