Not before time, owners of derelict properties across Co. Tipperary are facing a tougher new regime as the Government moves to increase pressure on long-neglected buildings and bring more vacant properties back into use.
Budget 2027 has put dereliction firmly back on the agenda, with plans for a new ‘Derelict Property Tax’ intended to strengthen enforcement nationally.
For Tipperary, however, the crackdown is already well under way. Tipperary County Council says the number of properties on its Derelict Sites Register rose from 84 in January 2025 to more than 120 by the end of that year, as its Vacant Homes Team stepped up efforts to identify neglected buildings and engage with owners.
The Council has also initiated compulsory purchase proceedings, with one property already transferred into Council ownership.
Owners face a clear choice.
At present, once a property is entered on the Derelict Sites Register, Tipperary County Council can require its owner to carry out works to remove the dereliction.
Failure to act can lead to financial penalties, an annual levy equivalent to 7% of the property’s market value, court proceedings or, ultimately, the property being acquired through a Compulsory Purchase Order.
That means the message to owners is becoming increasingly clear:
Repair it. Sell it. Bring it back into use. Or face escalating intervention.
Tipperary is already identifying more properties The increase in properties appearing on the county’s register is significant.
Rather than waiting for complaints alone, the Council says its teams have been actively identifying vacant and derelict sites throughout Co. Tipperary and intensifying engagement with owners.
Residents can also report suspected vacant or derelict properties, which the Council’s Vacant Homes Team can then investigate and follow up with the owner.
This could have major implications for all towns and villages where abandoned houses, former shops and deteriorating buildings have remained unused for years.
But there is money available to save these buildings
The Government’s approach is not based solely on taxation and enforcement.
Owners and purchasers of qualifying properties in Tipperary can currently receive up to €50,000 through the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant, with an additional €20,000, where the building is confirmed as derelict.
That means a qualifying derelict property could receive grant assistance of up to €70,000 to bring it back into residential use. The scheme is already having a substantial impact locally.
By the time Tipperary County Council prepared its 2026 budget, it had received 784 applications, approved 576 of them and recorded more than €33 million in housing investment through the programme. More than 200 completed properties had already returned to occupation.
Empty rooms over shops are also being targeted.
A further initiative launched this year could make a significant difference to Tipperary’s town centres. Since March 2026, grants of up to €135,000 have been available to help convert qualifying vacant space above commercial premises into homes.
There is also additional funding where an entire former commercial building is being converted into multiple residential units.
These measures could prove particularly important in traditional Tipperary town centres, where many street-level shops remain in use, while upper floors have stood empty for decades.
A major test for Tipperary, The policies are now in place. The real question is whether enforcement will follow. Tipperary has hundreds of buildings and sites capable of becoming homes, businesses or community facilities instead of remaining boarded up and deteriorating.
The Government and local authorities are increasingly combining grants for those willing to act with financial penalties and compulsory purchase powers for properties that remain derelict.
For owners, the days when an abandoned building could simply be left untouched indefinitely may be coming to an end. For the people of Tipperary, the hope will be that this new push does more than add names to a register.
The real measure of success will be seeing boarded-up and crumbling properties restored, occupied and brought back into the life of our towns and villages.
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