Certificates of Exemption from the provisions of Section 96 of Part V (Housing Supply) of the Planning and Development Act, 2000.
The means by which an applicant may be required to comply with the housing needs of the Council are set down in Section 96 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000.
In certain circumstances applicants may be exempt from the provisions of Section 96 and those circumstances and the process of applying for a certificate of exemption are outlined in Section 97 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000.
Applicants may, before applying for planning permission in respect of a development, apply, under Section 97, for a certificate from the Council stating that no obligations to provide social and affordable housing (or funds/sites in lieu of units) will apply to the permission, if granted, for said development.
The application form for a certificate of exemption from Section 96 is in the Forms area of the Planning Department Homepage.
The application form must be completed in full, signed and accompanied by the following:
- A Statutory Declaration giving information required under Section 97(5) of the Planning and Development Act and Article 49 of the Planning and Development Regulations, 2001-2007, namely:
- Details of legal and beneficial ownership of the land subject to the proposed development in the period of 5 years preceding the application
- The names of any person(s) with whom the applicant is acting in concert
- Details of any interest the applicant has or has had in land in the immediate vicinity (land that is 400metres or less from the site subject of the proposed development) at any time during the period of years preceding the application
- Any interest as in (c) that a person with whom the applicant is acting in concert may have had/has.
- Stating that the applicant is not aware of any facts that would give grounds under Section 97(12) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, for the Council to refuse an application for a certificate of exemption.
- 2 copies of a site location map with the site clearly outlined in red and to a scale of not less than 1:1000 in built up areas and 1:2500 in all other areas.
- Where applicable details of previous Section 97 Exemption Certificates or permissions for developments in relation to lands subject to this application or lands in the immediate vicinity
An example of what a typical Statutory Declaration might look like is available on our website.
Under Section 97(6) (a) the Council may require an applicant to provide further information in order to assess the application. If an applicant fails to provide this information within 8 weeks of the date of the request, the Council must refuse the certificate application.