Ready to Build: up to €30,000 off a serviced site

The Ready to Build scheme can reduce the price of a council-serviced site by up to €30,000. You must build your own home there, meet the planning and building deadlines, and repay some or all of the discount if you sell or stop living there within ten years.

Councils develop or buy sites in towns and villages, provide services and access, and sell them to individual buyers. The discount depends on the servicing cost and is taken off the sale price. Check your council’s advertisement and draft agreement before committing: local conditions can add deadlines and eligibility tests to the national rules.

The scheme is Stream 2 of the Croí Cónaithe (Towns) Fund. The national scheme outline dates from September 2022; the local examples below illustrate additional council conditions.

It is the scheme for people who need a site, where the Vacant Property Refurbishment Grant is for people who already have a building. It sits alongside, not instead of, ordinary site finance and the SEAI grants.

Who can apply

You must apply as an individual or household and build a home that will be your principal private residence. It is not available to companies or developers, and an applicant may only buy one site under the scheme. Councils must check this.

Applications are prioritised on a sliding scale, in this order:

1. First-time buyers, meaning people who have not bought or built a home for themselves, and people who qualify under the “Fresh Start” principle: previous homeowners who experienced divorce or separation, or insolvency or bankruptcy, and no longer have a legal interest in the old home.
2. Disabled people and older people who are moving from a home they are selling or have sold and want to live in a town or village.
3. Other applicants moving from a home they are selling or have sold who want to live in a town or village.

Sites are offered while funding lasts. Under the national rules, councils apply the priority categories when several applicants qualify for the same site, with a lottery where more than one applicant qualifies. Kildare advertises first-come, first-served prioritisation; ask the council how that operates alongside the national framework. Anyone who is not a first-time buyer or Fresh Start applicant must be moving out of a home they are selling or have sold. You also need tax clearance from Revenue.

What the discount means in money

The discount is a reduction in the purchase price, capped at €30,000. The discount depends on the council’s servicing costs. A site that needed little work gets a smaller discount than one that needed a lot. Ask for the price and discount for the particular plot you want.

The national scheme includes water, mains wastewater, electricity and access among the services. Ask the council to mark exactly what is installed, what connections or charges remain, and what work you must fund within the plot.

A discounted site does not mean a cheap build. Compare the saving with the rest of your budget in the cost to build a house guide, and remember that a serviced site should still have its own site works and connections to the house.

The deadlines you have to meet

Check these national deadlines against the agreement you sign with your council:

• Planning application within 3 months of receiving approval to purchase and paying the deposit. If you do not, the site reverts to the council.
• Transfer of ownership, and payment of the balance, only once planning permission has been received. Check that the permission and its conditions suit your intended house and budget before completing.
• Start building within 12 months of receiving planning permission. If you do not, you must repay the full value of the discount to the council. The council may extend the 12 months in exceptional circumstances, at its discretion.
• Live in the house as your principal private residence when it is complete.

A three month window is short. Choose your designer and work out your design before you pay the deposit, using the planning permission guide to see what an application involves, and the architect or engineer guide for who to ask. The planning permission duration page shows how long permission lasts once granted.

The clawback

You must live in the house for at least five years from the date you buy the site. If you sell the property or site, or it stops being your principal private residence, within ten years, you repay part of the discount:

When it happens	Repay
Up to 5 years	100% of the money value of the discount
Over 5 years and up to 10 years	75% of the money value of the discount
Over 10 years	Nothing

The council and the buyer sign an agreement containing the clawback, including a charge on the property that binds you when you sell. Money recovered goes back to the Exchequer. If you need a self-build mortgage, raise the charge with your lender early, since it sits on the property.

Where the scheme applies

The Fund is intended for towns and villages with a population over 400, and some smaller villages with enough services and amenities. The national outline counts more than 500 towns and villages above that threshold, but this does not mean sites are available in all of them. There is no national site list in that outline. Availability depends on whether your council has serviced and advertised a plot.

How two councils run it in practice

Check the local conditions as carefully as the price. These two council schemes have different deposit, planning and occupation deadlines; their terms do not apply to every county.

Laois: Durrow and Ballyroan

Laois advertised one site at Swan Road, Durrow for €46,500 and one at Ballyroan village for €35,000. Each site has access to the public road and a water and waste water connection provided by the council and included in the price. Applications ran through an online portal from 15 September to 15 October 2026, so that round has closed.

A 10% deposit was due within 5 working days of acceptance, planning had to be applied for within three months of paying it, and the balance was payable once permission was granted and the site became the buyer’s property. Building had to start within 12 months of the grant, or the full value of the discount was repayable.

Kildare: Clogherinkoe

Kildare is selling 7 serviced sites at Clogherinkoe, with an online portal open from 12pm on 12 August 2026 until 12pm on 31 December 2026. It says applications are prioritised first come, first served, in line with the Rural Housing Policy of its development plan, and it asks applicants to show:

• that they meet its serviced sites local need criteria (conditions about your link to the area, set out on the council’s page)
• confirmation from a bank or other financial institution that they have funds or a loan to build the home
• a tax clearance certificate from Revenue
• a signed and witnessed letter of commitment to apply for planning within 3 months of being offered a site

Kildare’s deposit is a minimum of 10%, due within one month of the offer. If planning is refused, the council gives a further 6 months on request. If there is no permission 12 months after the offer, the deposit is returned and the site goes to another applicant.

Kildare also expects the house to be built and occupied within 30 months of approval, or for the buyer to seek written council approval for a longer period. It does not allow temporary or mobile homes during construction. If you have not occupied it by then, you must give the site back to the council. You are refunded its fair market value as set by an independent valuer, which may be less than you paid.

Those extra conditions, especially the proof of funds, the local need test and the 30 month deadline, are not in the national outline. Read your council’s own terms, not just this guide, before you pay a deposit. Apply to your local authority. Its Vacant Homes Officer can answer questions about the scheme.

What to do next

1. Check your county council’s website for serviced sites and closing dates, or ring its housing or vacant homes team.
2. If one is on offer, ask for the price, the market valuation, the discount, and the draft agreement before you apply.
3. Get a rough design and a planning agent lined up, and confirm the exact deadline: the national outline refers to approval and payment of the deposit, while Kildare requires an application within three months of the offer.
4. Get tax clearance from Revenue.
5. Check the clawback against your plans for the next ten years: a sale or ceasing to use it as your principal private residence can trigger repayment. Ask how the agreement treats your circumstances.