Cork City Council has opened a consultation process in relation to the supplemental map of the land considered to be in scope for the Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT), as of April 1.

The Government’s Housing For All: A New Housing Plan for Ireland proposed a new tax to activate vacant land for residential purposes as a part of the Pathway to Increasing New Housing Supply.

The RZLT was introduced in the Finance Act 2021. The process to identify land to which the tax applies is now underway and the tax will be payable from 2024.

The objective of the tax is to activate land serviced and zoned for residential use or mixed use, including residential use, in order to increase housing supply and to ensure regeneration of vacant and idle lands in urban locations, that have been identified within statutory land use plans as appropriate locations for housing and have benefitted from investment to support the delivery of housing.

Cork City Council published a draft map of the land considered to be in scope for the RZLT on November 1, 2022. Submissions could be made in respect of land on the draft map up to January 1 this year.

As a consequence of submissions made, Cork City Council has prepared a supplemental map of the land considered to be in scope for the RZLT as of April 1, available online (consult.corkcity.ie) and to view at the Planning Counter in City Hall, from 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday.

Interested parties may make submissions in respect of land on the supplemental map from May 1 until June 1.

Residential properties are not subject to RZLT if subject to the Local Property Tax. It is not necessary to make a submission to remove this type of residential property from the map.

“It is important to note that submissions at this stage can only be made about land contained in the supplemental map. Submissions should not be made about land which was contained on the draft maps published by Cork City Council in November 2022,” according to the Council.

Submissions can challenge the inclusion of particular lands on the supplemental map on the basis that those lands do not meet the criteria set out within the relevant legislation. They can challenge the date on which the land is considered to meet these criteria, or request a change of zoning. Submissions should not identify additional lands which appear to meet the criteria as there is no provision for adding new land to the maps at this stage in the process.

Any additional land which appears to meet the criteria may be identified during the submissions process which will take place as part of the annual update to the maps from 2024 onwards.

The final map will be reviewed and revised annually from 2025 onwards.