Revenue eBrief No. 081/26

17 April 2026

Living City Initiative

The Living City Initiative is a scheme of property tax incentives provided for in Chapter 13 of Part 10 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997.

There are four types of relief available under the scheme:

• owner occupier residential relief,
• rented residential (landlord) relief,
• commercial relief, and
• living over the shop relief.

The Living City Initiative is aimed at the regeneration of certain areas. The designated areas are in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick and Waterford, and from 8 April 2026, also include areas in the following towns: Athlone, Drogheda, Dundalk, Letterkenny, and Sligo.

Revenue has updated Tax and Duty Manual Part 10-13-01 - Living City Initiative - and published two new Tax and Duty Manuals in connection with the relief:

Tax and Duty Manual Part 10-13-01 contains an overview of the Living City Initiative and provides a guide to two TDMs that contain guidance on different elements of the relief:

(1) Part 10-13-01a – Living City Initiative – Owner Occupier residential relief – Chapter 13 of Part 10 TCA 1997. The purpose of this manual is to provide guidance on the owner occupier residential element of the Living City Initiative.

(2) Part 10-13-01b - Living City Initiative – Commercial, Rented Residential and Living Over the Shop elements of the relief – Chapter 13 of Part 10 TCA 1997. The purpose of this manual is to provide guidance on the commercial, rented residential and living over the shop elements of the relief.

Finance Act 2025 made a number of amendments to the Living City Initiative:

• It introduced section 372AAE into TCA 1997, which provides for a new Living over the Shop element to the scheme. Relief is available in respect of the conversion or refurbishment of certain commercial or industrial properties (which were rateable premises) into residential units.
• The pre-1915 building age requirement that applied to the owner occupier and rented residential elements of the scheme was amended to provide that residential premises built before 1975 in Special Regeneration Areas will be eligible for relief.
• Relief for qualifying expenditure on the rented residential, commercial and living over the shop elements of the scheme is allowed over two years at a rate of 50 per cent per annum.
• It provides for up to a maximum of €300,000 in tax relief per undertaking over a rolling 3-year period for the rented residential, commercial and living over the shop element of the scheme, and thereby removing the limit of €200,000 per project.
• The restriction on the rented residential and commercial elements of the scheme which required three times the amount of a grant received or receivable to be deducted from qualifying expenditure was removed, it now instead provides that the amount of the grant received is to be deducted.
• The restriction on property developers or connected parties claiming relief in certain circumstances is removed.

The changes introduced by Finance Act 2025 took effect on 1 January 2026.