Old Bank of Ireland buildings

Be aware, if it is an old BOI building there is a good chance that it is a protected structure. This may not prevent you from altering the internal of the building, but it sure means the planners will scrutinise what you want to do, and how you do it. From experience of renovating an old protected building, it can be expensive and infuriating if the planner is a knob.

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There are obvious advantages to these old buildings too though: you'll have a nice looking exterior, high ceilings, potentially beautiful tiled/parquet flooring, lots of mahogany from the cashier desks / counter-tops (that even if you're removing could be reworked into bespoke kitchen furniture or even sold on for decent money) and the property certainly wouldn't be lacking in character!

The exemption is from planning permission not from building regulations. It doesn't apply in the case of listed buildings either.

To avail of the change of uses exemption you have to notify the Local Authority in advance that you are going to avail of it.

That may well trigger an inspection at some point. Even if not at that point, no way can anyone get a mortgage on the building unless everything is certified. It would be foolhardy to think a building can be bought and converted from one planning use category to another without complying with building regulations and there would be no adverse repercussions. The downsides could be very severe if things go wrong.