Garden homes planning exemption to be reviewed within 18 months

A proposal to allow garden homes to be built without planning permission and to be rented out privately is to be reviewed within 18 months.

The updated regulations, which were approved by Cabinet on Tuesday, aim to offer “an added layer of potential supply” in the rental market and to “free up the planning system” from an over-concentration on smaller developments, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said.

Housing Minister James Browne said the units would not be included in the Government’s yearly housing figures.

The Government is to exempt units between 32 and 45 square metres in size in gardens at the back of people’s homes from requiring planning permission.

It is expected that the new regulations would require 25 square metres of the garden to be left free and must include side access to the property.

The Government plans to allow the homes to be rented out privately, though those tenants would not be covered by the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004–2026.

The Government will consider bringing the regulations under the Rent-a-Room Relief scheme, which allows someone who rents a room in their home to earn up to 14,000 euros tax-free, as part of Budget 2027.

Concerns have been raised by housing advocacy group Threshold that “substandard” garden units could be rented out without appropriate inspections while planners said making them available to rent privately “risks unintended consequences for residential amenity, infrastructure, access, parking and enforcement etc”.

There are other proposed exempted development regulations for residential dwellings, including for dormer roof lights and for an extension to the back of a property increasing from 40 to 45 square metres.

The exempted development regulations have not been substantially updated in almost 25 years, the Department of Housing said.

Speaking on the way into Cabinet on Tuesday morning, Mr Browne said the proposal would be reviewed within 18 months of the new regulations coming into force.

Asked about whether there were figures on how many units they expected to be built under this exemption, Mr Browne said: “It’s about simplification, it’s not about trying to extrapolate how many there’s going to be.”

Mr Martin said there were “very serious challenges in housing”, including in the provision of rental accommodation.

“This is just an added layer of potential supply to the market, which is very, very important,” he said.

“We have to pull out all the stops to deal with housing because the younger generation need access, and anything that takes pressure off the rental market is a positive in my view.

“I think there’s a broader conversation about rental protections and tenancy protections for people who are in a licensed agreement outside the traditional tenancy agreement. That’s not a reason not to go ahead with this and people have been waiting a long time for this.”

Tanaiste and finance minister Simon Harris said on Tuesday: “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.

“Obviously, they’ve got to operate within regulations, building standards and the like, but I think this is a positive measure in a housing emergency, but also I think it’s a positive planning reform measure too.”

He added: “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.”