Former Tipperary property owner hit with derelict sites levy 10 years after selling
A former Tipperary property owner has been pursued over a derelict sites levy, despite selling the property more than 10 years ago, highlighting concerns over outdated ownership records.
The issue was raised by Cllr Liam Browne at the July meeting of the Tipperary-Cahir-Cashel Municipal District, where he questioned how the council can collect derelict sites levies when property ownership records are out of date.
Cllr Browne said that he had been speaking to a person who recieved a derelict sites levy, but they no longer owned the property in question.
“A notice had been put on this man’s door that he owed money because a property was derelict, and that he’d have to talk to Tipperary County Council about it.
“It turned out that the man had sold the house 10 years earlier, but the Land Direct registry hadn’t been updated, so he was now being given this charge because whoever bought the house hadn’t updated it,” he said.
Property ownership is registered with Tailte Éireann, meaning that information about who owns a property is publicly available for a small fee. However, there is no legal requirement for the new owner of a property to re-register it in their name.
“I looked into it, and I was amazed to see that you don’t have to re-register a property. There was a story out a couple of months ago that Tipperary County Council hadn’t collected any of this tax in the last four years, I realised that this is actually a problem with collecting the tax,” Cllr Browne said.
The Cashel-based councillor questioned if this was an issue that the council had with not knowing who actually owns some of the derelict properties around the county.
“Tipperary County Council then had no right to go to the auctioneer to ask who did buy the house because the auctioneer could say that there was GDPR issues. We need to start collecting the derelict sites tax off places that are vacant for a long time.
“If we don’t know who owns the property, we can’t collect the tax. Is there something we can do about that?” he asked.
In response, Shane Grogan, town regeneration officer said that the local authority were aware of the case, and that they were working with the original property owner in question.
“We have made contact with that original owner and told them that they won’t be liable. We know that Tailte Éireann can sometimes be slow to respond, but also if the person who purchased the property hasn’t registered it with Tailte Éireann, it still remains in the original owner’s name.
“In this case, we’ve told him to follow up with the solicitor to get them to follow up with Tailte Éireann. Secondly, we also have the support of The Housing Agency to help us in locating that property owner,” Mr Grogan outlined.
The council haven’t reached out to The Housing Agency yet on this case, he added, but said that they were working to reassure the original property owner that they weren’t liable for the tax.
The town regeneration officer added that the onus is on property owners to keep an eye on their properties.