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  5. Enforcement process

Enforcement process

Should the Planning Authority determine unauthorised development has occurred, enforcement procedures, per Part VIII of the Planning and Development Act, 2000, as amended, and as summarised below, may be enacted by the Planning Authority:

Warning Letter

  • The planning authority is required to issue a warning letter as soon as may be but not later than six weeks after receipt of a complaint regarding unauthorised development which may have been, is being, or may be carried out.
  • Recipients of a warning letter have up to four weeks to rectify the offence or to make a submission. 
  • Regard must be had to any submission received when deciding whether, or not, to serve an Enforcement Notice.

Enforcement Notice

  • An Enforcement Notice sets out the requirements of the planning authority to rectify the offence and contains a timeframe within which the work(s) must be completed.
  • Non-compliance with an Enforcement Notice is an offence. Should any person served with an Enforcement Notice fail to comply with its requirements, the Council may institute legal proceedings in the District Court.
  • An (emergency) enforcement notice can be served in urgent cases and the planning authority is not required to have a warning letter issued prior to service of an enforcement notice.

Penalties and Prosecution

A person who has carried out or is carrying out unauthorised development is guilty of an offence.
The possible penalties involved where there is a conviction for such an offence are that a person shall be liable:

  • on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding €5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or to both;
  • on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €12,697,380.78 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years, or to both.


Where an unauthorised development involves the construction of an unauthorised structure, the minimum fine is:

  • on summary conviction, the estimated cost of the construction of the structure or €2,500, whichever is less or:
  • on conviction on indictment, the estimated cost of the construction of the structure or €12,697.38, whichever is less, except where the person convicted can show to the court’s satisfaction that he, she, or it, does not have the necessary financial means to pay the minimum fine.

Injunction

Section 160 of the Planning and Development Act, 2000, as amended, provides that where an unauthorised development “has been, is being or is likely to be carried out or continued” the High Court or the Circuit Court may, on the application of a planning authority or any other person, by order require any person to do or not to do, or to cease to do anything that the Court considers necessary.

Development Management and Enforcement – Refusal of planning permission for past failures to comply

The making of a planning application for retention of an unauthorised development is no longer a reason to delay / suspend the taking of enforcement action by the council.

A planning authority may refuse planning permission for a development in circumstances where the applicant has previously failed to comply with a permission, has carried out a substantial unauthorised development, or has been convicted of an offence under the Planning and Development Act, 2000, as amended.

For further information regarding unauthorised development and planning enforcement, please refer to the Office of Planning Regulator Guidance Note

Page last reviewed: 12/04/16

Content managed by: Planning Department

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