Planning rules on cabins and modular homes in back gardens could be relaxed as part of Government efforts to tackle housing supply issues.
What is the law relating to cabins in the garden at present?
Currently you can build an extension up to 40 square metres (430 sq ft) attached to an existing home without planning permission.
If you build a log cabin/garden room in your back garden, you can build up to 25 square metres (270 sq ft) without planning permission. The garden room can be a maximum height of three metres or up to four metres high for a pitched roof.
Currently, garden rooms are not permitted for sleeping accommodation or to be lived in. Such rooms are regarded as a fire hazard because fire fighters cannot get easy access to back gardens.
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What is the Government proposing?
The Government is proposing relaxing restrictions to allow for larger cabin rooms that people can live in. These so-called modular planning exemptions are being considered which would exempt free-standing modular or cabin-style homes from planning permission.
Minister of State at the Department of Housing John Cummins has met officials in recent days on whether some types of exempted developments could be fast tracked against the backdrop of planning laws passed last year. He is keen on the proposals.
Why is the Government proposing this now?
The very disappointing house completion figures from 2024 - which saw just over 30,000 homes built as opposed to the 40,000 that was forecast - has concentrated minds in Government that current measures to tackle the housing crisis are not sufficient.
Mr Cummins believes that pursuing planning exemptions for detached cabin or modular style structures could be a relatively easy win for the Government.
Under the new Planning and Development Act, a minister can allow for exempted developments if “the carrying out of such development would not offend against principles of proper planning and sustainable development”.
Currently, planning exemptions allow a 40sq/m extension to the rear of a property once it’s attached. The Minister wants new planning regulations which would remove the requirement for the extension to be attached to the main dwelling. This proposal can only go ahead if there is sufficient space to the rear of the property.
The Department of Housing is now drawing up proposals and a public consultation will then take place. Mr Cummins is eager to get the exemptions in place as quickly as possible as an option for multigenerational living.
It could allow children to live independently of their parents and parents independently of their children should they choose to move into their parent’s house. Alternatively, it could also be rented out to a third party such as a student.
What difference would it make to the housing crisis?
Housing policy think tank Progress Ireland believes it has the potential to unlock 350,000 small homes in gardens though the numbers built would be significantly less than that.
It estimates that by 2031, the Government will need 150,000 rightsizing dwellings (ie homes for empty nesters) and this could provide an option for some of them, it believes.
Its Seomra plan, unveiled last September, points out that this policy has been a big success in places like Vancouver and California where there is a severe shortage of available housing.
As of 2022, 19 per cent of all housing units produced in California – or nearly one in five homes – was a form of cabin. In Vancouver, 35 per cent of all single-family homes have some form of cabin.
Progress Ireland director of housing policy Seán O’Neill McPartlin hailed the Government’s proposal as “excellent news” and a “common sense” policy.
“You are giving people greater levels of options. We didn’t create this proposal, it has been around for a long time. It is the low-hanging fruit.”
As such structures would be attached to an existing house, there would be no issue with the provision of services.
Progress Ireland states that a one-bedroom garden room can cost approximately €70,000 while the average cost of building a one bedroom apartment in Dublin is in the region of €400,000.
In Los Angeles, so-called ADU (accessory development units) have gone from 60 units in 2016 to 7,160 units in 2022 after restrictions were lifted on their construction.
What difference would it make to the housing crisis?
Chartered surveyor Fergus Merriman said planning permission can already be sought for habitable back garden homes, but very few actually get approval from local authorities.
“I welcome anything that would help alleviate the housing crisis, but I feel there is a kneejerk reaction in it,” he said.
“There is no chance really of them having an impact on the housing crisis.”
He says mortgage and insurance companies “look dimly” on them. There are problems with access especially if there is a fire that could spread to other homes. They could potentially lead to overdevelopment.
“If you have five or six nurses living in a back garden, where’s the parking going to be? What happens in the long-term we these sorts of buildings?” he said.
“They can work in certain circumstances, but the numbers aren’t great. We need hundreds of thousands of new houses.”
He questioned the demand for them outside urban areas where the housing crisis is most acute. He also stated that they could put further pressure on sewage and water facilities in places like Dublin.
What would be the cost of building a habitable room in your back garden?
Garden Rooms Ireland founder John Sherry estimates the average cost of a building a 40sq m garden room with a bedroom, small sitting room, kitchen, toilet and shower would be between €60,000 and €80,000.
However, he said it could be a cheap option for downsizers if, for instance, a parent was to vacate a five bedroom house and wanted to live in a self-contained garden room. The child, who lives in the house, could borrow the money to fund the backyard home as a much cheaper alternative to buying an apartment or another home.
Mr Sherry, who founded Garden Room Ireland in 2003, said he receives 20 inquiries a week from people thinking of building a room in their back garden that people could live in, but he turns them all down because of planning regulations.
Proposed changes to the planning system in relation to this would be a “game changer” her suggested “judging by the inquiries we have already had that we cannot manage. It would give a young adult a bit of independence or a home for elderly people who don’t somewhere else to go. I anticipate massive demand if it goes ahead.”
Mary O’Brien, the founder of the US-based Hapi Housing, which delivers modular-style homes, said the concept of “backyard homes” has been well developed in North America.
Ms O’Brien said Hapi Housing has set up a company for the Irish market, some of it for full size homes, but also smaller homes that can fit into back gardens. The company assembles much of their homes in factories and delivers them on sites.
“We could create designs for backyard homes, have a set price for the build-kit and then we could provide all the materials or designs. A buyer would have more certainty on the cost of the product.”
In the United States Hapi Homes can supply two bedroom, two bathroom backyard homes for €225,000.
