The Workers’ Party will this evening (Monday 15th November) bring a proposal to Dublin City Council’s annual budget meeting that the owners of vacant commercial properties begin paying full commercial rates. Currently, many business owners who leave their properties vacant gain a 50% rebate for their commercial rates in a given year.
Speaking ahead of the annual budget meeting, Workers’ Party Cllr. Éilis Ryan said
“14% of commercial premises in Dublin are currently vacant. For all our talk of clamping down on landlords who leave buildings and land idle, we continue to reward property owners who leave their buildings empty.”
The City Council, led by the Sinn Féin group, is expected to tonight pass a budget which, amongst other items, will propose an increased “boiler charge” for council tenants, to fund a badly-needed maintenance programme for boilers across the city’s public housing stock.
The Workers’ Party councillor said:
“While we introduce an effective rent hike for council tenants, we continue to give a financial reward to property owners who leave buildings idle. An unoccupied commercial premises remains a valuable asset for its owner, regardless of whether it is bringing in rent or not. However, the council doesn’t gain any financial reward from the owners’ ability to borrow against the value of the property.
“These are not struggling small businesses.”
The councillor concluded by suggesting the council would be more than willing to waive commercial rates if a vacant building was handed over for public uses, saying:
“If landlords feel the financial burden of paying rates on a commercial property is too great, a scheme can be introduced in which property owners may hand vacant premises to the council or community groups for their use, in exchange for a rates waiver.”