Short answer: Under the Derelict Sites Act 1990 every council must keep a public Derelict Sites Register of land and buildings in its area that are in such poor condition they harm the look or amenity of the place. An owner of a registered site in an urban area pays a levy of 7% of the site’s market value every year until it is fixed, and the council can compulsorily purchase it. At the end of 2024 there were 2,140 sites on the registers. The Government plans to replace the levy with a Revenue-collected Derelict Property Tax of at least 7%, with a national register in 2027.
What counts as derelict
Citizens Information puts it plainly: a derelict site is land in such bad condition that it takes from the character, appearance or amenities of the area. That covers buildings that are ruinous or dangerous, land or buildings that look neglected, and sites where rubbish has collected. The council decides, serves notice on the owner, and enters the site on the register if the notice is not acted on. The register must record the location, the owner’s name and address, what the council has done, and the current market value of the site.
The levy, the interest and the appeal
The levy is 7% of the market value of the land, charged every year the site stays on the register, in areas the Minister has classed as urban. Unpaid after two months of the demand, the council can charge interest at 1.25% a month and go to court for the money. The valuation can be appealed to the Valuation Tribunal within 28 days of the notice, for a fee. If the council acquires the site compulsorily, outstanding levies come off the compensation, and if the debt is bigger than the value, nothing is paid.
What is changing: the Derelict Property Tax
The Department of Housing published its plan on 13 November 2025. The levy will be replaced by a Derelict Property Tax, self-assessed and collected by Revenue with the usual penalties and interest, at a rate of at least 7%. Councils will still identify and register derelict properties. A preliminary national register is due in 2027, with the tax starting soon after, and a national digital register with maps is to be published every year. Until then councils have been told to collect the levies they are owed.
How to check a property, or its street
Ask the council. Every local authority must make its register available to the public; most publish a PDF or a web page under planning or environment, and a few (Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, South Dublin, Roscommon) publish it as open data with a location for each entry. Search the address and the street, because a registered site next door matters as much as the house itself: it signals a stalled owner, and it may become a building site or a compulsory purchase.
For the house itself, a register entry is serious. The levy is a debt the council pursues, the condition that put it there has to be fixed, and the council has compulsory purchase powers over it. Your solicitor’s searches should pick up a registered site, but ask the question early, before the survey money is spent.
Buying a derelict house on purpose
Plenty of people do, and the State pays towards it. The Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant is up to €50,000 for a vacant home and €70,000 for a derelict one (€60,000 and €84,000 on an off-shore island), inclusive of VAT, for a home you will live in or rent out; the local authority administers it and the property must have been vacant for two years. There is also a Local Authority Purchase and Renovation Loan that bridges the grant. The grant does not pay for structural surprises, so the public record on the ground matters more here than for a finished house: flood extents, radon, the septic tank or sewer, the planning file for whatever was built before.
Where our report fits
The report checks the Eircode and the 300 metres around it against the registers published as open data: red if the house itself is listed, a note if a registered site sits within 50 metres. For councils that keep the register offline, it says so and tells you where to ask. It runs with the other checks (flood, radon, planning, zoning, BER, sale history) for one address. Start with the free snapshot; the full report is €19.99.
Questions people ask
- Is a vacant house the same as a derelict site?
- No. A house can be empty for years and well kept. Derelict means the condition harms the area; the council has to decide that and go through the notice procedure before the site goes on the register. The Vacant Sites Levy was a separate measure for development land and has been replaced by the Residential Zoned Land Tax.
- Does the levy pass to a buyer?
- Unpaid levies are a debt tied to the site that the council pursues, and they are deducted from compensation on a compulsory purchase. Get the council’s confirmation of any balance before you sign, and have the contract deal with it.
- How do I report a derelict site?
- To the local authority, usually through a form on its website or by email to the derelict sites officer. The council inspects, and if it agrees it serves notice on the owner.
Related: how to search planning applications, buying a house with a septic tank, what a surveyor checks.