Zoned land 'intended' to be used for housing

It is “intended” by government that land should be used for housing if it is zoned and has been subject to investment by the state or local authorities for housing purposes, even if it is in private ownership, according to Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh O’Brien.

Speaking in response to a parliamentary question from independent Sligo-Leitrim TD Marian Harkin, Minister O’Brien said: “It is acknowledged that the tax will impact landowners.

“However, if the land in question is zoned for a particular purpose under a plan adopted by the local authority and has been subject to investment by the local authority and the state in the services necessary to enable the development of housing…it is intended that the land should be used for housing,” he added.

Harkin had quizzed the minister on the controversial Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT), specifically if there was an appeals process in place for farmers and landowners who unsuccessfully applied to their local authorities to have their land which came under the scope of the tax rezoned.

In response, O’Brien said that owners of land identified on the draft maps published on November 1 last had the opportunity to request a change of zoning from their local authority to remove them from the scope of the tax.

Local authorities made decisions on these requests based on national, regional and local policy, including the need to ensure sufficient land is zoned to meet housing needs.

According to Minister O’Brien, the consideration of these rezoning requests is “solely a matter for the respective planning authorities”, and he was prohibited, under the Planning and Development Act 2,000, from commenting on individual decisions.

He added that there is “no appeal process” in relation to zoning requests. Appeal provisions relating to the RZLT relate only to whether or not the land meets the criteria for falling into the scope of the tax, and not rezoning requests.

In other words, if, after receiving a submission from a land owner, a local authority decides that land will not be rezoned, this specific decision alone cannot be appealed.

Farmers who felt that their land was outside the scope of the tax altogether did, up until May 1, have the right to appeal with An Bord Pleanála.

Some 600 landowners appealed in this way.

However, these appeals could only relate to:

the exclusion of a site from a final map, on the basis that the land constituting the site does not satisfy the relevant criteria;
a change to the date specified in the map as the date on which land constituting a site first satisfied the relevant criteria.

Minister O’Brien told deputy Harkin that, to fall within the scope of the tax, farmland must be both zoned for residential use, and be serviced (i.e. has access to public infrastructure and facilities).

However, agricultural land that is zoned for a mixture of uses (including residential) and is being actively farmed is not in the scope of the tax, as farming is a trade or profession benefitting from and exemption in the legislation regarding mixed use zoning.

Despite that, controversy over the tax continues among farmer organisations and rural politicians, so much so that, earlier this month, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that the RZLT will be “modified” to address “anomalies” that have arisen in relation to land that is actively farmed.

Limerick City TD Willie O’Dea had asked the Taoiseach in the Dáil if the government has proposals to modify the RZLT legislation to “avoid [consequences] that must surely have been unintended”.

In response to O’Dea’s question, the Taoiseach said: “The short answer is ‘yes’.

“This tax was introduced to penalise people who were hoarding land during a housing crisis. It now appears to be affecting 100 or possibly 200 landowners who are not land hoarders,” he commented.