More than €10m now owed to Dublin City Council in unpaid dereliction levies
Dublin City Council (DCC) is now owed more than €10m in unpaid derelict sites levies, new figures reveal.
The council charges the levies to owners of sites that have fallen into a dilapidated state, but nonpayment has been a persistent and growing issue for the authority in recent years.
The value of unpaid derelict sites levies to DCC has nearly trebled since the end of 2020, from €3.45m to €10.11m this month.
Each local authority is mandated to maintain a derelict sites register, which includes the sites subject to an annual levy of 7pc of their market value.
Unpaid levies also attract interest at a rate of 1.25pc per month.
Outstanding levies including interest automatically become a charge on the land and remain as such until they have been paid off.
The new figures come as the council’s derelict sites register swells substantially, rising around 75pc in the last four years. However, properties have been slower to leave the list.
Of the 73 sites on the register from February 2021, 48, or two-thirds, remained on this May’s list more than four years later.
There are now 127 properties on the most recent list, with 26, or one in five, owned by the council themselves.
Sites owned by state bodies like local authorities are exempt from dereliction levies.
For a property to enter the derelict sites register, it must be reported to the council’s derelict sites unit.
An inspection is carried out, and if DCC finds it in a condition which would “materially detract” from the “amenity, character or appearance” of the surrounding area, it is added to the list.
DCC said it currently has 772 such ‘active files’ on sites across the local authority area.
In 2024, 635 site inspections took place, and 155 have been completed in the first quarter of this year.
In response to a question from Green Party councillor Feljin Jose, DCC said that between 2020 and quarter three of 2024, it had received payments totalling €2,681,219.63 in derelict sites levies and interest from owners.
Owners can have their properties removed from the register by applying remedial works to the site, and, as a last resort, the council can compulsorily purchase it to perform its own works.
Dublin City Council was contacted for comment.