Planning potential needs more than an optimistic description

Read the actual decision

“There is planning on it” is often the beginning of a useful discussion. It should be followed by the documents. What development was permitted? Which drawings form part of the decision? What conditions apply? A description passed from one person to another can lose important detail.

Ask the appropriate professional to review the planning history against what exists on the ground and what is proposed. An application, a grant, and a completed development are different stages. A valuer should identify the position being assessed rather than assume that each stage has been reached.

Keep the different questions separate

Planning, building-control compliance, legal title, and physical condition require different enquiries. A document relevant to one question should not be treated as a complete answer to the others. The practical consequence is that several advisers may need to contribute.

If an extension or change of use is involved, establish what records exist and what advice is required. Do not describe an unresolved matter as regularised because somebody expects that it can be dealt with. Equally, do not assume the worst before the facts have been examined.

For a protected or historic building, obtain advice suited to that building and its status. An approach appropriate to a modern house may be unsuitable for historic fabric. The assessment needs to consider both the permission position and the proposed work.

Check which law and procedure apply

Ireland’s Planning and Development Act 2024 provides for different commencement dates for different purposes and provisions (Ireland, 2024, section 1). The Department publishes details of phased commencements alongside a proposed schedule for remaining provisions (Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, 2026). A proposed date is not proof that a provision is in force; check the actual commencement order and any transitional arrangements.

This is why a current instruction should check the applicable law, transitional arrangements, and local plan. An older textbook or college note can explain a principle while no longer describing the procedure for a particular application. Avoid confidently quoting an old timetable without checking it.

Explain the valuation assumption

A property in its present state and a hypothetical completed scheme are different valuation subjects. If potential development is considered, identify the evidence, permissions, costs, timing, and uncertainty on which that consideration depends.

RICS development-valuation guidance calls for the assumed development and the basis of its assumptions to be made clear (RICS, 2019). That is a valuation discipline, not confirmation that an Irish planning permission exists or that its conditions have been satisfied.

My practical view is that potential becomes meaningful when the steps towards it are understood. The right question is not simply what might fit on a site. It is what can reasonably be supported, delivered, and valued on the evidence available.