Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016

PART 1 Preliminary and General

1. Short title, collective citation, construction and commencement

1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016.

(2) (a) The Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2015, and this Act, other than paragraphs (b) and (c), Parts 3 to 5 and the Schedule, may be cited together as the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2016 and shall be construed together as one.

(b) The Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 to 2015, this paragraph, Part 3 and the Schedule may be cited together as the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 to 2016 and shall be construed together as one.

(c) The Local Government Acts 1925 to 2014, section 57 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014, this paragraph and section 52 may be cited together as the Local Government Acts 1925 to 2016 and shall be construed together as one.

(3) (a) Subject to paragraphs (b) and (c), this Act comes into operation on such day or days as the Minister may appoint by order or orders either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so appointed for different purposes or different provisions.

(b) Sections 33 to 37, sections 46, 47 and 50 come into operation on the day following the passing of this Act.

(c) Part 5 comes into operation on the passing of this Act.

2. Definitions (general)

2. In this Act—

“Act of 2000” means the Planning and Development Act 2000;

F1[“Act of 2024”means thePlanning and Development Act 2024;]

“Minister” means the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government.

PART 2 Planning and Development

Chapter 1

3. Definitions (Chapter 1)

3. In this Chapter—

F2["Board" means An Coimisiún Pleanála;]

“consultation meeting” means a meeting to which section 6(5) relates;

F3["development plan" has the same meaning as it has in section 2 of the Act of 2024;]

F4["gross floor space" means the area ascertained by the internal measurement of the floor space on each floor of a building (including internal walls and partitions), disregarding any floor space provided for the parking of vehicles by persons occupying or using the building or buildings where such floor space is incidental to the primary purpose of the building;]

F3["local area plan" means a plan continued in force by section 81 of the Act of 2024;]

“prospective applicant” means a person who—

(a) is the owner of the land concerned, or

(b) has the written consent of the owner to make an application under section 4 in respect of that land,

and who intends to apply for permission under that section in respect of that land;

F4["shared accommodation" means a building or part thereof used for the provision of residential accommodation consisting of—

(a) communal living and kitchen facilities and amenities shared by the residents, and

(b) bedrooms rented by the residents,

but does not include student accommodation or a building, or part thereof, used for the provision of accommodation to tourists or visitors;]

“specified period” means—

(a) the period from the commencement of this provision until 31 December 2019, and

(b) any additional period as may be provided for by the Minister by order under section 4(2);

“strategic housing development” means—

(a) the development of 100 or more houses on land zoned for residential use or for a mixture of residential and other uses,

(b) the development of student accommodation units which, when combined, contain 200 or more bed spaces, on land the zoning of which facilitates the provision of student accommodation or a mixture of student accommodation and other uses thereon,

F4[(ba) development—

(i) consisting of shared accommodation units that, when combined, contain 200 or more bed spaces, and

(ii) on land the zoning of which facilitates the provision of shared accommodation or a mixture of shared accommodation thereon and its application for other uses,]

F5[(c) development that contains developments of the type to which all of the foregoing paragraphs, or any two of the foregoing paragraphs, apply, or]

(d) the alteration of an existing planning permission granted under section 34 (other than under subsection (3A)) where the proposed alteration relates to development specified in paragraph (a), (b)F4[,(ba)] or (c),

each of which may include other uses on the land, the zoning of which facilitates such use, but only if—

(i) the cumulative F5[gross floor space] of the F5[houses, student accommodation units, shared accommodation units or any combination thereof] comprises not less than 85 per cent, or such other percentage as may be prescribed, of the gross floor space of the proposed development or the number of houses or proposed bed spaces within student accommodation F4[or shared accommodation] to which the proposed alteration of a planning permission so granted relates, and

(ii) the other uses cumulatively do not exceed—

(I) 15 square metres gross floor space for each house or 7.5 square metres gross floor space for each bed space in student accommodation F5[or shared accommodation] in the proposed development or to which the proposed alteration of a planning permission so granted relates, subject to a maximum of 4,500 square metres gross floor space for such other uses in any development, or

(II) such other area as may be prescribed, by reference to the number of houses or bed spaces in student accommodation F4[or shared accommodation] within the proposed development or to which the proposed alteration of a planning permission so granted relates, which other area shall be subject to such other maximum area in the development as may be prescribed;

“Strategic Housing Division” means the division of the Board referred to in section 11(1);

“student accommodation” has the meaning provided for by section 13.

F4["student accommodation"—

(a) means a building or part thereof used or to be used to accommodate students whether or not provided by a relevant provider (within the meaning of theQualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012), and that is not for use—

(i) as permanent residential accommodation, or

(ii) subject toparagraph (b), as a hotel, hostel, apart-hotel or similar type accommodation,

and

(b) includes residential accommodation that is used as tourist or visitor accommodation but only if it is so used outside of academic term times;]

4. Strategic housing developments and planning applications

4. (1) F8[…]

(2) (a) Not later than 30 October 2019, the Minister shall—

(i) review the operation and effectiveness of this Chapter, and

(ii) lay before each House of the Oireachtas a report of his or her conclusions from the review.

(b) The Minister may, by order made before the expiry of the specified period, extend such period during which this section shall continue to apply but—

(i) no such order shall be made before paragraph (a) has been complied with, and

(ii) any such extension shall not be made in respect of a period after 31 December 2021.

(3) Where a request was duly made under section 5(1) during the specified period in respect of a strategic housing development but any matter concerning the development to which Part 2 relates has not been completed before the end of that period, then subject to section 11(10), the other provisions of the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2016 shall continue to apply to that matter as if the specified period had not expired.

(4) In the case of an application for permission for a strategic housing development that is located in a strategic development zone, the applicant may elect to make the application to the planning authority under section 34 of the Act of 2000 rather than under this section and, accordingly, section 170 of that Act applies to the application to which the said section 34 relates.

(5) The proposed strategic housing development shall not be carried out unless—

(a) the Board has approved it with or without modifications, or

(b) it is duly carried out consequent to an election under subsection (4).

5. Request for consultations before making application under section 4

5.(1) Subject to subsection (2), a prospective applicant shall, before making the application in accordance with section 4(1), make a request to the Board to enter into consultations with the Board in relation to the proposed strategic housing development and any such request shall comply with subsection (7).

(2) A prospective applicant shall, prior to making a request to the Board under subsection (1), have consulted the appropriate planning authority or authorities in whose area or areas the proposed development would be situated, comprising at least one meeting, as if the consultations with the planning authority or authorities concerned were for the purpose of making a planning application to it or to each of them, as the case may be, and for that purpose—

(a) subject to subsection (3), section 247 of the Act of 2000 applies, with any necessary modifications to those consultations, and

(b) those consultations shall have regard to so much of Part V of the Act of 2000 as would be relevant to the proposed strategic housing development.

(3) Consultations under section 247 of the Act of 2000 in relation to proposed development referred to in subsection (2) shall be held within 4 weeks of the date of receipt by the planning authority, or planning authorities, as the case may be, of a request by the prospective applicant for such a consultation, unless the prospective applicant requests that the period be extended by a specified period, in which case—

(a) the period shall be extended by the planning authority, or planning authorities, as the case may be, by such specified period upon the first such request, and

(b) the period may be extended, at the discretion of the planning authority or planning authorities, as the case may be, by such specified period upon a second or subsequent such request.

(4) The failure by a planning authority to comply with the requirement to hold a consultation meeting for the purposes of section 247 of the Act of 2000 by virtue of subsection (3) within the time limits provided for by that subsection shall not prevent the Board from proceeding under this section to deal F10[with the request concerned].

(5) A request to the Board by a prospective applicant to enter into consultations with the Board shall be in writing and shall include—

(a) the following:

(i) the name and address of the prospective applicant;

(ii) a site location plan sufficient to identify the land;

(iii) a brief description of the nature and purpose of the development and of its possible effects on the environment;

(iv) a draft layout plan of the proposal;

(v) details of the pre-application consultations that have taken place with the planning authority, or planning authorities, as the case may be, under section 247 of the Act of 2000 and that may have taken place with prescribed bodies or the public;

(vi) such further information as may be prescribed;

(vii) such other information, drawings or representations as the prospective applicant may wish to provide or make available,

(b) a statement that, in the prospective applicant’s opinion, the proposal is consistent with both—

(i) subject to subsection (6), the relevant objectives of the development plan or local area plan concerned, and

(ii) relevant guidelines issued by the Minister under section 28 of the Act of 2000,

and

(c) the appropriate fee.

(6) Where the proposed strategic housing development would materially contravene the development plan or local area plan, as the case may be, other than in relation to the zoning of the land, then the statement provided for the purposes of subsection (5)(b)(i) shall indicate why, in the prospective applicant’s opinion, permission should nonetheless be granted, having regard to a consideration specified in section 37(2)(b) of the Act of 2000.

(7) (a) A request under subsection (1) shall be made by submitting it to the Board in the form of so many printed copies and copies in a machine readable form on digital devices as are prescribed, together with a separate electronic copy if prescribed;

(b) When a prospective applicant is making a request to the Board under subsection (1), he or she shall also send a copy of the request to the appropriate planning authority or authorities in whose area or areas the proposed strategic housing development would be situated. It shall be so sent in the form of so many printed copies and copies in a machine readable form on digital devices as are prescribed, together with a separate electronic copy if prescribed.

(8) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (5)(a)(vi), the matters that may be the subject of regulations under that subparagraph may include but shall not be limited to a brief description of—

(a) the proposed types of houses F11[, student accommodation units or shared accommodation units] and their design, including proposed internal floor areas, housing density, plot ratio, site coverage, building heights, proposed layout and aspect,

(b) public and private open space provision, landscaping, play facilities, pedestrian permeability, vehicular access and parking provision, where relevant,

(c) the provision of ancillary services, where required, including child care facilities,

(d) any proposals to address or, where relevant, integrate the proposed development with surrounding land uses,

(e) any proposals to provide for services infrastructure (including water, wastewater and cabling, including broadband provision), and any phasing proposals,

(f) proposals under Part V of the Act of 2000, where relevant,

(g) details of protected structures or archaeological monuments included in the Record of Monuments and Places, where relevant, and

(h) any aspect of the proposed development likely to have significant effects on the environment or significant effects on a European site.

6. Consideration of request under section 5 by Board and consultations

6.(1) (a) Within 2 weeks of the date of the receipt by the Board of the request of a prospective applicant under section 5(1) to enter into consultations the Board shall either—

(i) accept the request of the prospective applicant to enter into consultations where it decides that the request has complied with section 5, including any regulations made for the purposes of subsection (5)(a)(vi) of that section, or

(ii) refuse the request of the prospective applicant to enter consultations where—

(I) the prospective applicant has not complied with subsection (2) of section 5 or paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (7) of that section, or

(II) the Board decides that the request does not include some or all of the information, statements or appropriate fee to which subsections (5) and (6) of section 5 relates.

(b) In any consultations under F13[under this section], the Board may give advice to the prospective applicant regarding the procedures involved in making a planning application and in considering such an application.

(2) Where the Board refuses under subsection (1)(a)(ii) to consider a request under section 5(1) by a prospective applicant to enter into consultations within 2 weeks from the date of the receipt of the request, then the Board shall—

(a) subject to subsection (3), return to the prospective applicant concerned the copies of the request and statement submitted to it for the purposes of paragraphs (a) and (b), respectively, of section 5(5), and

(b) give reasons for its decision to the prospective applicant.

(3) Subsection (2) is without prejudice to the Board—

(a) making a copy of the request,

(b) retaining an electronic copy of the request, or

(c) by agreement with the prospective applicant concerned, retaining the request,

submitted to the Board for the purposes of section 5(5)(a).

(4) (a) Where subsection (1)(a)(i) applies, then within 2 weeks from the date of the receipt by the Board of the request under section 5(1) the Board shall notify in writing the prospective applicant and the appropriate planning authority or planning authorities, as the case may be—

(i) that the Board has accepted the request made under section 5(1), and

(ii) that the Board will convene a consultation meeting between the parties so notified and the Board in the manner provided for by subsection (5).

(b) Within 2 weeks of the date of the notification under paragraph (a), each planning authority concerned shall submit to the Board—

(i) copies of all records of the consultation or consultations held with the prospective applicant by that authority pursuant to section 5(2), and

(ii) that planning authority’s opinion in writing (including the reasons for its opinion) of what considerations, related to proper planning and sustainable development of the area concerned, may have a bearing on the Board’s decision in relation to the proposed strategic housing development, in particular, that authority’s opinion on the proposed development having regard to the provisions of the relevant development plan or local area plan, as the case may be,

and shall send to that prospective applicant copies of the records and the opinion so submitted.

(5) The Board shall convene a consultation meeting—

(a) to take place within 4 weeks of the date of the F13[notification undersubsection (4)(a)], and

(b) to be attended by—

(i) (I) the prospective applicant, or one or more persons on his or her behalf, or

(II) the prospective applicant and one or more persons nominated by him or her,

(ii) the Board, and

(iii) subject to subsection (6), each planning authority in whose area the proposed strategic housing development would be situated.

(6) Each planning authority in whose area the proposed strategic housing development would be situated shall ensure that planning authority officials attending the consultation meeting on its behalf have a sufficient level of relevant knowledge and expertise in the matter concerned.

(7) Within 3 weeks of the holding, in accordance with subsection (5), of the consultation meeting or, if more than one such meeting, the last of F14[…] those meetings, the Board—