Prior Notification (14-day)
A new procedural step from 27 July 2026: notify the planning authority, Eircode included, at least 14 days before starting works under the garden-dwelling or house-subdivision exemptions.
The July 2026 exemption package introduced something Irish planning never had before: exemptions that carry a notification duty. Before commencing a Class 3A garden dwelling or a Class 1A house subdivision, the owner must notify the planning authority at least 14 days in advance, including the property's Eircode. It is not a planning application - there is no assessment, no decision to wait for and no public submission window. It is not a commencement notice either: that is a separate building-control filing made through BCMS. But it is not optional - works started without the notification fall outside the exemption and are unauthorised development.
For trades, the notification is the sharpest timing signal the new exemptions have: a homeowner who has notified the council is weeks at most from starting. And for anyone advising a homeowner, the compliance point is blunt - the exemption only exists if the notification was made, so skipping it turns a legal build into an unauthorised one.
Honestly: not yet. No council publishes these notifications, there is no national portal for them, and the statute requires only an internal council record plus an annual count to the Minister. These projects do not surface in BCMS either, since planning-exempt houses need no commencement notice. Aggregate per-council counts are obtainable by FOI or AIE request, and that is the form any tracking here will take.
Common questions
No. Nothing is assessed and nothing is granted - it is advance notice to the planning authority, with the property's Eircode, that exempt works are about to start. It attaches to the Class 3A garden-dwelling and Class 1A house-subdivision exemptions.
The works lose the exemption - they are unauthorised development, with the normal enforcement exposure and the title problems that surface at sale time.
A commencement notice is building control: served on the building control authority through BCMS, 14 to 28 days before works, under the Building Control Regulations. The prior notification goes to the planning authority under the planning regulations. A project can need both.
Built for planning consultants & architects: Benchmark every authority, track every appeal, never miss a decision date.
This is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. Planning rules carry conditions and exceptions - always verify a specific case against the official source or a planning professional before acting.