Less than €10,000 collected by council in vacant site levies

Cork County Council have claimed just €9,750 in Vacant Site Levies, despite currently having 16 sites on the register with a valuation of €20 million.

Cllr Deirdre O’Brien queried the subject at a council meeting on Monday, and the council replied that, since 2019, 25 Vacant Site Levy invoices had been issued to landowners, totalling €660,250. For various reasons, including the transfer of sites to Cork City Council, the total invoices outstanding currently amount to €183,700.

The Vacant Sites Register, available on the county council’s website, shows that of the 16 vacant sites, 10 are in Cobh, with three each in Midleton and Carrigtwohill. The register was last updated in June 2021. The register is not static, as the status of land may change as well as the zoning of the land.

The council say they are in ‘advanced discussions’ with a number of landowners regarding payment of €78,500, in addition to the €9,750 already collected. Since 2019, the levy is 7% of the market value of the land. In theory, were the 7% levy applied to the current register, in just one year it would net €1,400,000 for the council.

‘POOR’ LEVY COLLECTION RATES

In explaining the charges, the council also stated that an unpaid levy remains a charge on the land concerned and that in a majority of cases, payment of the outstanding levy takes place after the sale of the lands concerned.

A vacant site is defined as a piece of residential land, more than 0.05 hectares, where there is a need for housing in the area. The site must be deemed suitable for housing and the majority of the site must not have been in use for an extended period of time. Another definition of a vacant site is ‘regeneration land where the majority of the site has not been in use for an extended period of time, or the site is having a negative impact on existing amenities or on the character of the area.’

The Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015 requires all planning authorities to keep a register of vacant sites, and that this register be publicly available at the planning offices and online. A site can be added once it has been vacant for at least 12 months and the owner advised in writing.

According to the 2020 Statutory Audit Report by the council, invoices totalling €105k were issued for that year and the auditor noted that collection rates were ‘extremely poor’. In response, the Chief Executive stated that ‘All local authorities have experienced challenges in implementing and administering the Vacant Site Levy.’

LIMERICK

In Limerick, there are currently nine properties on the Vacant Register Site, one of which belongs to the Department of Finance. With a valuation of €150,000, it is a site on Mungret Street and has been on the register since June 2018. In their audited accounts for 2020, the auditor advised that no money was collected from the combined levies of 2019 and 2020, which amounted to €988,000.

As announced in last October’s budget, the Vacant Sites Levy currently undertaken by the council will be administered nationally instead by the Revenue Commissioners, and be known as a Zoned Land Tax.