Property developer Michael O’Flynn has been informed by Cork City Council that 12 of the 18 housing sites that the local authority had listed for inclusion for the new residential zoned land tax (RZLT) have now been excluded from the tax.
But the developer faces having to appeal the inclusion of the six sites in the city on the list for the tax, along with six properties in Cork county. Mr O’Flynn told The Irish Times that he faces an annual bill of more than €2 million if these 12 sites were to be subjected to the new RZLT, which he said would affect the viability of building the 1,565 units that are earmarked for the various properties.
He has until May 1st to lodge his appeals with An Bord Pleanála, which he said he plans to do.
Earlier this month, The Irish Times reported that Mr O’Flynn was seeking to have 24 properties in Cork exempted from the RZLT — 18 in the city and six in the county. Cork City Council has now decided that 12 of the 18 properties in its area can be excluded from the list.
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However, the other six remain on the list, along with six properties in Cork county. Of the six city sites, Mr O’Flynn said four are under appeal to An Bord Pleanála while his company — O’Flynn Group — is on site at the other two. Of the Cork county properties, Mr O’Flynn said two are under construction, one is subject to a planning application, one site is being developed with the Land Development Authority, another involves two open spaces, while the other has a request for further information from the council.
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“These are unintended consequences of the land tax,” Mr O’Flynn said. “It’s illogical, it’s dysfunctional, and there’s an awful lot of time going to be wasted by local councils, Bord Pleanala and by development companies to clarify this. We’ve been in the planning process on some of these sites for years.
“Any land we have, we’re working to get planning, preparing to get planning, trying to resolve infrastructure to lodge planning, or it’s in Bord Pleanála, or we’re started on site. Land is our raw material and there is no benefit in hoarding land. But there’s a big issue now about people buying the raw material in advance if they must pay tax on it.”
Mr O’Flynn, who is a member of the Government-appointed Commission on Housing, said his company has spent “tens of thousands” of euro on professional fees to challenge the listing of his sites for the tax.
“The principle of this is to force people to develop land. We’re being asked to pay tax but … I’m really calling for some common sense to be applied,” he said.
The RZLT is a new annual tax. It will be calculated at 3 per cent of the market value of land within its scope and will apply from 2024 onwards. Subject to some exemptions, it is due to be applied on serviced land that is zoned for residential use.
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