2.—(1) In this Act "residential property" means, subject to subsection (2), a building that is situated in the State and that is occupied, or suitable for occupation, as a separate dwelling, whether or not the occupier shares, or would be entitled to share, in connection therewith, any accommodation, amenity or facility with any other person, and includes—

(a) a house, maisonette, flat or apartment (including the form of accommodation commonly known as a bedsit), and

(b) a building containing a bedroom to which paragraph (e) of subsection (2) applies.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, none of the following is a residential property:

(a) a building—

(i) from which no income has been derived since the building’s construction,

(ii) that, since the building’s construction, has never been used as a dwelling, and

(iii) that forms part of the trading stock of a business;

(b) a building vested in a Minister of the Government, a housing authority (within the meaning of the Act of 1992) or the Health Service Executive;

(c) a building owned by a body standing approved for the purposes of section 6 of the Act of 1992;

(d) a building that—

(i) is wholly used as a dwelling (other than a dwelling that forms part of a mixed hereditament within the meaning of the Local Government (Financial Provisions) Act 1978), and

(ii) in respect of which local authority rates are payable;

(e) a bedroom that is let under a letting arrangement whereby the occupier of the bedroom is entitled to share with any other individual any other accommodation, amenity or facility in the building of which the bedroom forms part;

(f) an approved building within the meaning of section 482 of the Act of 1997.

(3) In this section "business" includes—

(a) the business of a company to which—

(i) an examiner, liquidator or receiver has been appointed under the Companies Acts,

(ii) a statutory receiver has been appointed under the National Asset Management Agency Act 2009, or

(iii) a receiver has been appointed under any other enactment,

and

(b) the business of an individual—

(i) who is a bankrupt or an arranging debtor within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Act 1988, all or part of whose property vests in a receiver, manager or the Official Assignee in Bankruptcy in accordance with that Act, or

(ii) where, in respect of all or part of the trading stock of the business, a statutory receiver has been appointed under the National Asset Management Agency Act 2009.]