Don’t push ahead with relaxing rules for beds in sheds, says Irish Planning Institute to government

Allowing garden homes without planning permission will have “significant unintended consequences, even if limited to family members only,” the Irish Planning Institute (IPI) has said, in its submission to a recent government consultation.

The IPI – which represents public and private-sector planners – said that it “therefore opposes this proposal” to exempt detached residential units in back gardens from the need for planning permission. 

On 29 July, the Department of Housing launched a public consultation on updates to the laws that determine what people can build without planning permission. 

Its proposals include exempting detached habitable structures which are up to 45sqm and comply with building regulations – an idea pushed in recent times by think tank Progress Ireland.

The think-tankers have said that planning changes could unlock and deliver as many as 350,000 garden homes across Ireland.

Dublin City Council planners granted planning permission in 79 applications for “ancillary family accommodation” between 2022 and 2024, show figures from its press office.

The IPI’s submission raises eight concerns with the proposal to exempt garden cabins.

Among them, overloading water and waste-water pipes and services beyond what they were originally designed for, and greater flood risk from adding hard surfaces and removing trees.

They also raised concerns about the potential of the units to be used for short-term letting. “Thereby frustrating the Government’s policy of restricting such use in order to help to protect housing stock for permanent residents.”

Land prices would increase, driving up housing costs, the submission says, because of the enhanced development potential of residential plots. 

“Government policy should be seeking to ameliorate housing costs and promoting affordable housing. Properties with potential for backyard units may become more expensive, pushing out first time buyers,” it says.

There would also be significant enforcement issues, the submissions says, if any requirements aren’t complied with. “Given the lack of enforcement resources in local authorities, this is clearly undesirable.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Housing said that the public consultation, which closed on 26 August, got more than 900 submissions. 

It hasn’t published the submissions – or the earlier submissions made by other government departments and bodies in relation to the proposed exemptions.

“Drafting of any new regulations regarding exempted development (including the proposal for detached dwellings in rear gardens) will commence shortly,” said the spokesperson.

Limited to family?

In its submission, the IPI notes that while the Minister for Housing, Fianna Fáil TD James Browne has talked about the accommodation being just for family members, the public consultation document doesn’t make that clear. 

“This fact raises most serious issues that need to be clarified,” it says.

A Department of Housing spokesperson said on Saturday that detached dwellings in a rear garden would be to accommodate family members, and classed as part of the principal private residence. 

“They are not intended for rental purposes,” they said. 

Green Party Councillor Ray Cunningham says that, in his experience, Dublin City Council’s current planning enforcement unit doesn’t have the powers that they need to deal effectively with allegations of illegally rented backyard units or sheds.

Take allegations that a shed has been rented out the back of a house on Naas Road without planning permission, he says.

In the last five years, Dublin City Council has sent out a warning notice, an enforcement notice, another enforcement notice, and another warning notice relating to those allegations. 

But planners haven’t been able to assess comprehensively whether the shed is being rented, he says.

Cunningham says a major issue in general is that planning officers have to go to court and get permission to inspect backyard sheds because they have to cross private land to get there.

“They have to get permission for a specific date,” he says. The property owner has to have at least two weeks notice, he says – and can in that time clear anybody out.

Dublin City Council didn’t respond to queries about this.

Cunningham says that it puts paid to the idea that these sheds will just be for family members. “Once it’s built, there’s no way to check on that, or enforce that”.

If the government does change the planning laws, he says, they would have to look at the same time to change the laws to make it possible for planning enforcement to check if it is habitable, or rented out.

Gareth Redmond, policy officer with the housing charity Threshold, says the same: “It would be extremely difficult to prevent people renting out these dwellings, especially if it is at the back of their principal private residence.”

A lack of detail

The IPI submission lists several caveats that should be included in regulations, if the department is determined to crack on with the idea.

As well as limiting the cabins to family members, they shouldn’t be allowed to be used for short-term lets, the submission says.

Also, the units should have a minimum floorspace of 32sqm – the same as a studio apartment – to avoid substandard accommodation, it says.“It is noted that the consultation paper refers to a maximum requirement of 45sq metres, but does not specify a minimum.”

Redmond says that Threshold has similar concerns. The proposed changes to allow for garden homes don’t adequately set out the minimum standards that apply, he said. “The consultation documents do not make explicit reference to the regulatory frameworks that would apply in practice.”

“While it may be assumed that garden cabins would need to comply with the Building Control Acts, which includes building regulations and fire safety requirements, these provisions are primarily concerned with structural integrity, health and safety, and technical compliance,” said Redmond. 

“As such, they do not sufficiently address the broader requirements that define a unit as suitable for long-term habitation, regardless of the occupant’s relationship to the home-owner,” he said.  

The IPI submission says that a professional should have to certify – and notify the planning authority – that a unit meets building control regulations and has adequate waste-water capacity.

Also the exemption should only apply to new development, it said. “That is, detached habitable accommodation units constructed following the coming into force of the regulations.”