Government to continue letting builders of one-off houses opt out of professional checks

A special exemption was brought in for one-off homes in 2015 so that the owners would not have to pay the professional certification fees

Homeowners from Donegal protesting in Dublin city centre on June 15 about the mica blocks controversy. Picture: Getty

The government is going to continue to allow the builders of one-off houses to “opt out” of professional building checks despite experts warning that it could lead to another mica-style building controversy.

All new homes were supposed to be independently certified by architects or engineers as being compliant with the building rules. But a special exemption was brought in for one-off homes in 2015 so that the owners would not have to pay the professional ...