Disputing Council fees

The Fingal County Council contribution scheme should be clearly set out in their development plan. First port of call is to check it and see if they have calculated the contribution correctly and in line with the CPD. If they have, you have little chance of getting it changed. If you think they applied the levy incorrectly, you're main route to get it sorted is to appeal the condition to An Bord Pleanala. Note that this could take 4-6 months and you can't start work until it is sorted. You can only appeal the ABP within 4 weeks of the decision of the council and the will charge you €220 for the pleasure. My understanding is only a county manager or ABP can overturn/change a condition on a planning

breffnij wrote: »

I'm long past on ABP appeal at this stage as entered discussions with Fingal over the issue months ago & date passed. ABP didn't believe I could be charged for garage and insisted I got it wrong until they looked into plan. Just said they were surprised to see this.

Calculation correct- think its just time to stand up and question the system they now use/ used. Anyone know what potential costs could be against me in district court if I lose?! :D:D:p

When you lose you mean.

FCC have unlimited legal resources and will fight you all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.

Has anyone ever been taken to court or threatened to be taken to court by Fingal County Council over late payment of contribution fees?

If I understand you, now you are looking for Leave to Appeal a condition of planning permission? That condition been the contributions?
Under S.48(10) of the Act you have no basis for the appeal unless you can show that FCC were negligent in their appropriation of the contribution applied. This section deals with ABP but a judge will take note of this section before granting Leave to Appeal. I'd have all my ducks in a row before I even considered taking the legal route, could/will end up costing a pretty penny.

Just accept it and enter into a payment schedule with the LA? Cheaper for you by a long shot.

breffnij wrote: »

I'm long past on ABP appeal at this stage as entered discussions with Fingal over the issue months ago & date passed. ABP didn't believe I could be charged for garage and insisted I got it wrong until they looked into plan. Just said they were surprised to see this.

Calculation correct- think its just time to stand up and question the system they now use/ used. Anyone know what potential costs could be against me in district court if I lose?! :D:D:p

The issue is that it was retention permission. Garages are exempt in the Fingal Development Contribution Scheme, however, as per the scheme:

10 (ii) For clarification purposes;
(a) Exemptions and reductions shall not apply to permissions for
retention of development

Per Fingal's website,

It should be noted that from 1st January 2018, the Development Contribution Rates will increase by 6.30% in accordance with the Tender Price Index. The rates of contributions effective from 1st January 2018 shall be as follows:

Residential €85.94 per m2

Non-residential €67.11 per m2

If your fees are over €3,000, extrapolating from the figure for residential development contribution fees to be paid of €85.94/sq.m gives an area of at least 35sq.m. (Residential class as non-residential refers to industrial/commercial development, not a garage ancillary to a residential dwelling).

The rise introduced at the start of the year is the annual inflation in line with the Tender Price Index, as stated in Fingal's Development Contribution Scheme 2016-2020.

Note 1: These rates of contributions shall be effective from 1st January 2016 to 31st December 2020. Indexation in accordance with the Chartered Surveyors of Ireland Construction Tender Price Index will apply annually on 1st January. Having regard to economic or other circumstances and, subject to the approval of the Council, it may be considered appropriate not to apply this indexation for any year(s).

http://www.fingal.ie/media/Development%20Contribution%20Scheme%202016-2020.pdf

Sorry breffnij, but if the area of your garage matches the fee you've been charged as per the figures shown above and on their website, you don't have a leg to stand on. Had you gotten planning permission prior to building, you would have been exempt from the fees altogether, and even if you got retention permission granted before January 1st, you still would have had to pay the figure applicable for last year, which was only 6.3% less. Regardless of what you were told by your agent, or planners... the fee is still applicable. It might be possible to negotiate a reduction in the fees with good reason, but that's completely at the discretion of the Council.

Edit: Re-reading your first post, the planner probably told you no fees would apply as that was in October/November, and as you said you started building in November. The planner was correct that no fees would apply had you gone for planning before you built. But because it became a retention permission, the exemption from the development contribution scheme no longer applied. That's where I think the confusion is coming from.

kceire wrote: »

This is different then, so they want to alter the agreed payment plan.
Can they source a small loan from elsewhere and pay them back over a longer period, like the Credit Union or similar.

Its not currently possible due to circumstances to pay quicker.
Just wondering how real the threat is re legal proceedings

kceire wrote: »

Very real in my opinion.

Based on what?
Do you know of a case where action was taken?:rolleyes:

To be fair you mentioned "in my opinion" and then didn't provide any actual examples of it.

I agree that there is no need for the smiley faces.