OPPOSITION PARTIES HAVE criticised moves by the government to allow modular cabins in the back garden of homes to fall under the Rent-a-Room scheme. 

The Sunday Independent reported yesterday that the government had changed tack on a policy flagged last year, which will see planning permission scrapped for those who want to build modular homes or log cabins in their back garden. 

Currently, planning exemptions allow a 40 square metre extension to the rear of a property once it’s attached to the house.

However, under the new rules, which have yet to come into effect, structures up to 45 square metres, and which are placed at the bottom of someone’s garden will be permitted without planning. 

When the change was first flagged last year, the government stated that this initiative was to enable both younger and older generations to live within their own communities and close to family.

The plan was pitched that the log cabins were to be used solely for family members, to “allow for a younger person to live independently of the family home in the short-term”. 

However, in a policy shift by the government, the new plan will see modular homes allowed to be put up for rent under the Rent-A-Room relief scheme, which allows a person to rent out a room in their home and avail of tax-free relief up to €14,000.

Sources said that the change of policy was agreed a number of weeks ago, as it was determined that it would prove too difficult to ascertain if the person living in the modular home is a family relative.

The full details are still being worked out, said sources.

Speaking to reporters in Tipperary today, Tánaiste Simon Harris said the government doesn’t want people to have to “jump through a load of planning hoops” to put a modular unit in the back garden.

“We’re not going to tie up our planners, having to assess those applications when they could be working on critical infrastructure that’s needed for this country,” he said.

As homeowners can currently rent out part of their home and claim tax relief, the government is now considering “if there’s any logic” in extending that to modular units in a person’s garden.

“And I think there might well be,” Harris said. 

The Tánaiste said this is about “common sense, practical measures”, while acknowledging that none of these in and of themselves will sort out the housing emergency.

He added that “taking the planner out of your back garden and possibly
taking the tax man out” is the plan.

Criticism

However, the U-turn by the government to allow the modular homes be used in the open rental market has been criticised by opposition parties. 

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Sinn Féin spokesperson on Housing, Eoin Ó Broin described the proposal to allow landlords rent out modular units in back gardens as “deeply concerning”.

Ó Broin said that when the initiative was first announced last year, Minister for State with responsibility for planning, John Cummins said that his intention was that this change would be for direct family members only and not for private rental accommodation.
 
“Now it appears that government has changed its tune. Not only are they considering extending the new planning rules to private rented units in back gardens but also extending the rent a room tax relief to such dwellings,” he said.

Ó Broin said this morning on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that his party supports the easing of planning permission for modular homes in gardens, where they are used by family members, but raised concerns that the policy change will lead to a proliferation of low-quality modular units in back gardens with tenants being charged extortionate rip off rents.

“It will be used by rogue landlords to rack and stack poor quality cabins in back gardens and charge thousands of Euros to hard-pressed renters,” he said. 
 
He called on the minister of state to publicly clarify the government’s intentions and to publish the draft planning regulations. He said the draft regulations must be brought before the Oireachtas housing committee for proper scrutiny.

Labour’s housing spokesperson Conor Sheehan also criticised the shift in policy, stating that the government must rule out allowing landlords to rent out modular units in back gardens.

“When this was first mooted in February 2025, I warned that beds in sheds were not a solution to the housing crisis. While I accept and agree that more flexibility is need in relation to modular units, we cannot create a system which allows renters to be exploited,” he added. 

Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne called the rule change a “half-baked plan” which lacks any proper planning and regulatory considerations.

He said it is a “recipe for exploitation”, stating there is no reason to believe that these units will not be used to charge vulnerable renters sky-high rents.