Garden rooms to be exempt

Roderic O'Gorman just said on RTE Radio that if a ban on renting these out isn't included in the planning rules around them it will be a recipe for disaster for neighbours to these garden rooms and TD's like him who'll have to deal with the complaints/fall out.

This is the same Roderick who a few years ago granted planning exemptions to anyone creating IPAS accommodation with no regard at all to the neighbours or locality in general!
 
Just in my 4 house terrace, 2 of the neighbours put stand-lone buildings in the back garden. One a log cabin, the other traditional block construction.
Both requested (and got) planning permission for "garden room / gym / storage", with a very explicit planning condition that they must not be used to live in.
Both completely ignored that condition.
One is rented out, the other is lived in by the elderly parents. (Who have/had their own house literally around the corner).
So it looks like they are now changing the planning to make what has already been reality for a couple of years, compliant.

Myself and my other neighbours are not exactly thrilled about the additional people living here - many more cars för somewhat limited parking being just one problem. E.g., the one neighbour now needs space for 4 cars.

Should we report it to the city council? Maybe, but rental market is a sh1tshow so not sure where they would go instead
 
They might just as well legalise shantytowns but they won't because existing homeowners (voters) won't profit from it.
 
Farmers might be happy to supply their land for shantytowns. The profit might be higher than with the usual payments from Brussels.
 
Delboy said:
This is the same Roderick who a few years ago granted planning exemptions to anyone creating IPAS accommodation with no regard at all to the neighbours or locality in general!
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The evidence makes it clear that was a free-for all, so I wouldn't expect this one to be either.
 
At this stage the government actually should make it a free for all- if the land is zoned residential you can build anything you like as long as it complies with building regulations. You should only need to notify the local authority of, not apply for permission for, any development of residential property.

The local authorities should have the authority to veto any residential development if and only if the submitted design doesn't comply with building regulations.

The current system sure isn't working. Too many moaners shafting society to protect their own narrow and short term interests.
 
If there is a lot of state owned or zoned land that could be used for residential purposes but the state or councils or developers don’t have the funds, why can’t councils just put in the utilities and sell ready to go plots to private individuals so they can build their own affordable house. Better than spending 50-60k on a cabin in someone’s back garden as a temporary measure.

Councils could sell plot owners the drawings for permitted designs. People don’t need to hire architects or get planning permission, they just choose their pre-approved preferred design. Councils get income from the rtg plot, the plans, inspections, certification.

I don’t know if small builders could build one or more houses more quickly, but large developments need large funding and the whole estate needs to be finished before anyone can buy. Maybe large developers could just concentrate on apartment buildings and building houses directly for councils.
Of course inspectors would be needed to make sure building regulations are complied with. Maybe already zoned land that can’t be developed because of lack of funding could also be sold in RTG plots.
Probably a crazy idea but could something like that work?
 
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bipped said:
Councils could sell plot owners the drawings for permitted designs. People don’t need to hire architects or get planning permission, they just choose their pre-approved preferred design. Councils get income from the rtg plot, the plans, inspections, certification.
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Can't be making sensible suggestions like that now. People might get ideas.

Friends of mine bought such a site from Luxembourg, just across the border in Belgium. All the other buyers were also Luxembourgish. Already zoned and serviced so they just needed a cursory PP and off it went. Built a lovely home. Its certainly a solution for rural areas and small towns currently bypassed by the development system and its something for those who live in rural areas excluded by tightly defined ideas of what a "local needs" means.

But it won't happen because developers and landowners cannot make money out of it, neighbours will object, and opposition will object because every proposed solution removes the endless gravy train that continues as long as there is a housing crisis.
 
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