If our mobile home doesn’t get planning, we’ll be homeless

Q I have a mobile home I put in the back garden of a private house in south Dublin last October as myself, my partner and two-year-old girl can't afford rent. After a short while it was reported to the council and we received a letter to apply for planning permission for retention as the mobile was already in place. We did so accordingly and heard back that we were refused permission and they want us out.

They gave us the chance to appeal to an Bord Pleanála but we couldn't afford it. The council then gave us six weeks to stop living in the mobile and have it off the property by September. We are going to put planning in again for retention for two years as a temporary home. We would like if you had any advice on this issue as we really can't afford rent and would become homeless.

A All development requires planning permission by law. Mobile homes are considered development and thus require planning permission. Accordingly, one cannot place a mobile home in a back garden without first obtaining planning permission for this. No doubt when the mobile home was provided here a concerned neighbour complained to the local authority. The local authority is then obliged to take action. I anticipate that they would have sent you a warning letter advising you of the unauthorised development. The local authority normally allow a period, typically six months for you to “regularise” the situation. In order to regularise the situation, you need to either remove the unauthorised development or alternatively to seek planning permission by way of retention.

I note that you endeavoured to seek planning permission but that you were ultimately refused. The planning authority are obliged to take on board all issues affecting the development including issues such as density, open space, car parking provisions, connections to public services including the drains, and precedence for similar developments.

In making a decision, the planning authority would consider the greater or common good as opposed to the individual requirements of the applicant such as financial constraints.

Accordingly, whereas the planners may well sympathise with your particular circumstances, they cannot make the decision based on this alone, as this could lead to a precedent that may not be for the benefit of society as a whole.

When the planning authority made their decision you had the right to appeal however the appeal must be made within a specific time frame – one month. If an appeal was made, then An Bord Pleanála would have had a chance to review the situation. However, in the absence of an appeal the planning decision to refuse permission would have been granted and came into effect. As no appeal was made, permission has now been refused and you are currently in breach of planning legislation, and you will be forced to remove the mobile home from the property.

I note you are suggesting that you intend to apply for a new planning permission in September however this is very unlikely to work as you cannot simply reapply for the same thing. In order to follow this strategy, you would have to make some material changes such as reducing the size of the mobile home or relocating this to an alternative location in order to have something new to seek permission for.

It is, however, my considered opinion that while this might “buy” you some additional time, this is very unlikely to work and will only give rise to additional cost to you in the interim period.

I can only sympathise with your position but would recommend that you put your efforts into other avenues such as seeking a rent allowance or alternative housing from the relevant public bodies.

Val O’Brien is a Chartered Building Surveyor and member of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, scsi.ie