Can I build?

Ohoopee

So I find a piece of property advertised for sale on Daft.ie. How exactly do I go about finding out if I can build a house on the property prior to purchasing it?

sydthebeat

Ohoopee wrote: »

So I find a piece of property advertised for sale on Daft.ie. How exactly do I go about finding out if I can build a house on the property prior to purchasing it?

You can't build a house on property to don't own

But maybe you're referring to a having a "preplanning meeting" in your local council beforehand.

Ohoopee

sydthebeat wrote: »

You can't build a house on property to don't own

But maybe you're referring to a having a "preplanning meeting" in your local council beforehand.

Exactly, I didn't grow up in Ireland but have lived here for over 10 years now. I found this beautiful piece of land for sale and I think it would be a lovely spot for a house. I am not a sheep farmer however so if I can't build a house on the property....well it is worthless to me. Because I didn't grow up in Ireland, I don't really know how the system works in this regard. I have been warned by friends to be careful when buying property or I'll end up with land I can't build on. None of my friends really seem sure how I should go about finding out this information though. I contacted the real estate agent who is selling the property..but they have yet to give me an answer.

So I have to actually go to my county council and have a meeting with them? The property has a small building on it and a "coral" on it as well. It appears to have been used for sheep farming in the past but doesn't currently nor does it have any signs of a past dwelling on it. Several of my friends made the statement that I could just "ring someone" and find out...they just never said who that someone was.

davindub

Ohoopee wrote: »

sydthebeat wrote: »

You can't build a house on property to don't own

But maybe you're referring to a having a "preplanning meeting" in your local council beforehand.

Exactly, I didn't grow up in Ireland but have lived here for over 10 years now. I found this beautiful piece of land for sale and I think it would be a lovely spot for a house. I am not a sheep farmer however so if I can't build a house on the property....well it is worthless to me. Because I didn't grow up in Ireland, I don't really know how the system works in this regard. I have been warned by friends to be careful when buying property or I'll end up with land I can't build on. None of my friends really seem sure how I should go about finding out this information though. I contacted the real estate agent who is selling the property..but they have yet to give me an answer.

So I have to actually go to my county council and have a meeting with them? The property has a small building on it and a "coral" on it as well. It appears to have been used for sheep farming in the past but doesn't currently nor does it have any signs of a past dwelling on it. Several of my friends made the statement that I could just "ring someone" and find out...they just never said who that someone was.

You can assume if it is rural you will not get pp unless you live in the area. If you do local solicitors/ architects may be able to give further advice specific to the property, there are a lot of things that might prevent pp, if they feel possible the current owner may allow you to apply for pp before purchasing.

Del2005

Ohoopee wrote: »

Exactly, I didn't grow up in Ireland but have lived here for over 10 years now. I found this beautiful piece of land for sale and I think it would be a lovely spot for a house. I am not a sheep farmer however so if I can't build a house on the property....well it is worthless to me. Because I didn't grow up in Ireland, I don't really know how the system works in this regard. I have been warned by friends to be careful when buying property or I'll end up with land I can't build on. None of my friends really seem sure how I should go about finding out this information though. I contacted the real estate agent who is selling the property..but they have yet to give me an answer.

So I have to actually go to my county council and have a meeting with them? The property has a small building on it and a "coral" on it as well. It appears to have been used for sheep farming in the past but doesn't currently nor does it have any signs of a past dwelling on it. Several of my friends made the statement that I could just "ring someone" and find out...they just never said who that someone was.

You need to contact the planning office in the local council to see if there are any residency restrictions in the area, locals only planning laws or similar. Then you'd need to find out if you can get planning permission but I don't know if you can do that without owning the property, local architects or solicitors would be a place to check.

You might be able to find its zoning on the council's website.

davindub

davindub wrote: »

You can assume if it is rural you will not get pp unless you live in the area. If you do local solicitors/ architects may be able to give further advice specific to the property, there are a lot of things that might prevent pp, if they feel possible the current owner may allow you to apply for pp before purchasing.

Planning for locals only is only the case in a few counties. There is no problem at all getting planning in most counties.

368100

Kye Narrow Glassware wrote: »

Planning for locals only is only the case in a few counties. There is no problem at all getting planning in most counties.

Agreed. It is only applicable for some places. Your best bet would be to speak to the planning dept in your local council office but you can actually get the info from the county development plan that should be on the council website, though it might take a bit of trawling to find.

You could also discuss with the vendor an offer for the land subject to you obtaining outline planning permission, just be sure it won't affect the price they're looking for. Outline planning is basically an agreement in principle to be able to build a house.

davindub

368100 wrote: »

Agreed. It is only applicable for some places. Your best bet would be to speak to the planning dept in your local council office but you can actually get the info from the county development plan that should be on the council website, though it might take a bit of trawling to find.

You could also discuss with the vendor an offer for the land subject to you obtaining outline planning permission, just be sure it won't affect the price they're looking for. Outline planning is basically an agreement in principle to be able to build a house.

As far as I know, practically all councils follow the rural housing policy which aims to reverse one off building. But happy to look at areas you are sure are granting permission at the moment, it would be good to know.

At the moment planning policy aims to be restrictive outside of zoned areas. Whether they have a policy of local needs or not most have restrictions on one off rural housing. Some councils are actually more restrictive than local needs in areas, "rural area under strong urban pressure" policy basically means sod off.

Tomek398

"European Court of Justice says ‘locals-only’ housing clauses are against European law"

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/rules-in-kerry-on-one-off-houses-will-have-to-change-say-councillors-1.3074532

368100

Tomek398 wrote: »

"European Court of Justice says ‘locals-only’ housing clauses are against European law"

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/rules-in-kerry-on-one-off-houses-will-have-to-change-say-councillors-1.3074532

I had seen this in recent weeks.........I'd say good luck to getting councils to move any way quickly to change their rules....can see it being a few years out.

I do think there should be some form of control though, obviously one thats not discriminatory though.

Tomek398

I do think there should be some form of control though, obviously one thats not discriminatory though.

I agree.

davindub

368100 wrote: »

I had seen this in recent weeks.........I'd say good luck to getting councils to move any way quickly to change their rules....can see it being a few years out.

I do think there should be some form of control though, obviously one thats not discriminatory though.

They were aware of the EU stance since 2008, so Kerry COCO have renewed their development plan knowing this twice.
http://www.housing.gov.ie/sites/default/files/migrated-files/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/Planning/FileDownLoad%2C18600%2Cen.pdf

I don't see it as necessarily discriminatory, locals need preference but they are denying locals as well in many areas. They want more of the population living in towns, l believe one reason they stated was the cost of services to rural areas is too expensive. Given that the services are already in place, I don't see any sort of savings there, beyond increasing house prices in towns.

368100

davindub wrote: »

They were aware of the EU stance since 2008, so Kerry COCO have renewed their development plan knowing this twice.
http://www.housing.gov.ie/sites/default/files/migrated-files/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/Planning/FileDownLoad%2C18600%2Cen.pdf

I don't see it as necessarily discriminatory, locals need preference but they are denying locals as well in many areas. They want more of the population living in towns, l believe one reason they stated was the cost of services to rural areas is too expensive. Given that the services are already in place, I don't see any sort of savings there, beyond increasing house prices in towns.

And even at that I don't get where they claim costs of services. What services? No streetlights where I'm building .....have own well for water........ESB is sorted by me too. Still I'd to pay 3k in fees that cited local services and road improvements. 4 of us have paid this on the same road and the road has had potholes for about 5 years with no sign of them being fixed.

davindub

368100 wrote: »

And even at that I don't get where they claim costs of services. What services? No streetlights where I'm building .....have own well for water........ESB is sorted by me too. Still I'd to pay 3k in fees that cited local services and road improvements. 4 of us have paid this on the same road and the road has had potholes for about 5 years with no sign of them being fixed.

If I was being cynical I would say they discovered to deliver broadband to the entire country means a hub within 1 mile of each house. They can't deliver that.....

Its getting harder and harder not to believe it is all a ploy to increase house prices within towns.

Del2005

368100 wrote: »

And even at that I don't get where they claim costs of services. What services? No streetlights where I'm building .....have own well for water........ESB is sorted by me too. Still I'd to pay 3k in fees that cited local services and road improvements. 4 of us have paid this on the same road and the road has had potholes for about 5 years with no sign of them being fixed.

Public transport doesn't work with ribbon development. Even emergency services are impacted by people not living in towns or villages.

august12

Ohoopee wrote:

So I have to actually go to my county council and have a meeting with them? The property has a small building on it and a "coral" on it as well. It appears to have been used for sheep farming in the past but doesn't currently nor does it have any signs of a past dwelling on it. Several of my friends made the statement that I could just "ring someone" and find out...they just never said who that someone was.

Do you know if the small building was once a cottage/house, this might help your case, usually if there was a residence on the property, generally you would get planning, you could agree to purchase subject to obtaining outline planning, no point in going to the expense of full planning if its refused. As others have noted, arrange a meeting with a planning officer in the council and obtain a map of the land.