🧭 What this page is — start here

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A practical, Ireland-wide playbook for funding the repair, refurbishment and reuse of older, vacant, derelict and heritage buildings. It pulls together the main grants, tax reliefs and loans and shows how to stack them — which scheme covers what, in what order to apply, and when each one actually pays out.

Who it's for: owner-occupiers, first-time buyers, people who've inherited a property, landlords and investors — anyone dealing with a period, vacant, derelict or protected building in Ireland (and the advisers helping them).

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📚 How the page is organised

🔑 The golden rules (true for almost every scheme)

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New SEAI energy-grant package — announced 29 September 2026; opens 6 October 2026

Warmer Homes: fully funded solar PV up to 4 kWp plus a 5 kWh battery will be offered as standard.
Eligible welfare households: up to €9,000 for solar PV up to 4 kWp plus a 5 kWh battery. A similar pilot applies to participating Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) homes.
Home battery grant: a new €600 grant for domestic battery energy-storage systems.
Boiler scrappage: €2,000 for eligible owners replacing fossil-fuel heating with a heat pump or other renewable system in a pre-2021 home. This element applies immediately; eligible heat-pump applications already in progress receive the uplift automatically.
Solar eligibility: solar PV and solar-thermal grants extend to homes built and occupied before 2025; the existing grant remains up to €1,800.
HAP/RAS tenancies: new attic-insulation grants of €1,400–€2,500 and cavity-wall grants of €900–€2,300, depending on house type.
Medically vulnerable scheme: expanded to fully fund up to 4 kWp solar PV with 5 kWh battery storage.

Most measures open subject to final implementation arrangements; full terms and eligibility details are still to issue. [1]

Refer : Energy upgrades (SEAI)

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👉 Where to start

💡 Worked client scenarios — which grants to stack, when to apply, when they're paid

🏘️✨ "Beautiful house on the main street" — owner-occupied, NOT a Protected Structure, wants to refurbish
👶🏠 "First-time buyer buying a vacant home to live in" — stacking LAHL + LAPR + VPRG + SEAI
👪🏚️ "Inherited vacant family home" — CAT, VPRG, Fair Deal and probate timing
🏬➡️🏠 "Flat above the shop" — client owns a shop with a vacant upper floor, wants to convert it to an apartment and rent it out
🏬➡️🏠 "Vacant commercial building → homes" — full change of use of a former shop, office, bank or pub to residential
🏛️🏬 "Georgian townhouse converted into apartments for rent" — multi-unit conversion of a Protected Structure
🏛️🛠️ "Protected Structure needing major repair" — PS owner planning significant works
🏚️🌾 "Derelict farmhouse in the countryside" — buying a rural wreck to live in
🌾🏠 "Thatched cottage needing re-thatching" — BHIS thatched stream, insurance subsidy, SEAI
📢⚖️ "Derelict site on my street" — how to get a derelict property brought back into use