Back garden 'shed-sits' risk creating 'lesser class of renters'
Back garden ‘shed-sits’ are in danger of creating a “lesser class of renter” according to one Dublin councillor.
People Before Profit Cllr Conor Reddy has outlined concerns that government plans to allow for modular back garden homes to be rented on the open market will only allow for landlords to further exploit vulnerable tenants . With the Cabinet approving proposals to relax planning rules for modular homes, this will offer a €14,000 per year tax break for those taking in lodgers.
When this concept was first floated, the idea was that it could alleviate the housing crisis by offering adult children or family relatives a chance to live independently in a cabin in their garden. This has since changed to allow for these ‘shed-sits’ to be rented on the open market, with the owners of the primary residences benefiting from the Rent-a-Room Relief scheme.
This is where Cllr Reddy’s concerns come in as tenants would be opting into licensing agreements that don’t offer the same rights as traditional tenancies. As a renter himself, Cllr Reddy said the proposal “fills me with dread” and a feeling that “things are only getting worse for tenants” already facing the impact of the housing crisis.
“I'm a private renter myself. I live in the smallest possible allowable dwelling under the Planning Act. It's basically a bed sit with an internal subdivision,” he explained, highlighting that licensees renting under the new agreements will not have the right to go to the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) in the event of any dispute.
Rather than act as a solution to Dublin’s housing deficit, Cllr Reddy said the ultimate result of these plans will cause “further catastrophe” as tenants without proper rights will be “living under the nose of their landlord.” He described the plan as a “race to the bottom” where landlords can “unscrupulously profiteer” off the backs of desperate tenants.
The core issue, Cllr Reddy said, is government has failed to deliver affordable housing at the capacity that is required. The Ballymun-Finglas representative stated that in his area just 25 social homes were delivered in 2025 and that moving forward with this proposed plan is “the government’s way of making up for that shortfall.”
“This isn’t going to solve the crisis. It’s just going to stop those headline figures of homelessness and people in need climbing further,” he said. Allowing modular homes to qualify for tax incentives under the Rent-a-Room Relief scheme will encourage people to “squeeze” the rental base for all it is worth according to Cllr Reddy. He questioned the interests that are being prioritised with this plan and cited the influence of Progress Ireland, a lobbying group backed by the Collison brothers.
According to an April 2025 report in The Ditch , Progress Ireland director Seán Keyes and the group's housing policy director Seán O'Neill McPartlin attended a meeting with Micheál Martin and his economic advisor Alan Ahearne where they introduced a plan for exempting small, detached dwellings in gardens from normal planning procedures. The policy document stated that “Ireland could build 350,000 small homes in gardens.”
Cllr Reddy said these figures feed into a "philosophy of abundance" and a belief that “any type of housing supply is good supply” and will have a positive effect on the market. But, rather than bring down rents and ease pressure on the market, the result will be a new tier of tenants without proper rights.
While People Before Profit aren’t principally opposed to modular homes to help give family members some reprieve from the private market, Cllr Reddy explained “the boat has been pushed out” and rather than support an influx of questionable ‘shed-sits’ they should be looking at more long-term solutions to the housing crisis.
From addressing long-term vacancy and dereliction across Dublin’s housing stock to putting in stricter measures to regulate short-term lettings, Cllr Reddy said there are huge amounts of properties that could be made available to rent or buy on the open market. “There are already rules, we just need to enforce them,” he said. He also cited the interests of landlord TDs approving policies that directly benefit them. “It is staggering the vested interest there, and I think until that changes we are caught in the trap we are caught in,” Cllr Reddy said.
“There are very few voices for tenants in Leinster House. There are few TDs who rent. That’s a real problem. We have a huge number of people in Ireland who are effectively unrepresented and their experiences aren’t understood.
“They talk about this being a transitional thing but once it’s there it is hard to get rid of. It becomes part of the ecosystem of what’s available in the housing market, so it relieves pressure in a way that doesn’t bring you closer to a solution. I don’t believe they are building up the construction capacity we need to get more permanent places for people to buy and rent.”
Speaking to the Cabinet last month Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris said it is important to review garden home measures 18 months after they come into effect. "I think it's important that we take the planner out of the back garden, and that we enable planners to be freed up to work on critical infrastructure, to work on major housing developments, and provide people in this country with a degree of flexibility around what they choose to do with their own garden," he said.
"Obviously, they've got to operate within regulations, building standards and the likes, but I think this is a positive measure in a housing emergency, but also I think it's a positive planning reform measure too. There is a housing emergency, and we have to, and I believe this instinctively, we have to remove bureaucracy and administration and red tape and make it as easy as possible for people to be able to have homes, have shelters, use their own garden space as well.
"But it is also important we look at this and keep it under tight review. So built into the proposal today will be a review within 18 months and I think that is important."
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