A NEW INITIATIVE announced by the City and County Council looks set to allow owners of houses in some streets on the city, that are pre-1915 in their construction, the opportunity to renovate their homes and write off the costs against tax.

The Living City Initiative is a scheme of property tax incentives which applies in certain ‘special regeneration areas’ in the centres of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford and Kilkenny.

The objective of the plan is to promote the regeneration of some of the city’s oldest areas and provides for tax relief for qualifying expenditure incurred on both residential and certain commercial refurbishment and conversion work that is carried out during the qualifying period.

This qualifying period is five years after the date the order was made by the Minister for Finance.

The residential element provides tax relief for owner-occupiers by way of a deduction from their total income of 10 percent per annum of qualifying expenditure over a 10-year period and is only available where the property is the claimant’s only or main residence.

The commercial element provides for tax relief over a seven-year period.

However, this element of the relief applies only to the refurbishment or conversion of premises for the provision of retail and other services within the State.

The maximum level of actual tax relief which can be obtained in respect of any individual project is capped at €200,000, in accordance with EU State Aid rules.

SEO of Economic Development Billy Duggan told members of the Metropolitan District that he was heading up the project with two other members of Waterford City and County Council.

The streets with eligibility have been dictated by the Revenue Commissioners and interactive maps are available online on Waterford City and County Council’s website.