Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 10, line 28, to delete "the authority and the tenant" and substitute the following:"the authority is satisfied that the failure to make a repayment or pay rent on a due date was due to circumstances outside the household’s control and the authority and the tenant".

These six amendments are proposed to update and harmonise the approach taken in the Bill to disqualifications from social housing support arising from arrears of rent owed to housing authorities or approved housing bodies. The fundamental objective of the amendments is to relax the rent arrears disqualification by not applying it where the housing authority or approved housing body is satisfied that the household's failure to keep up the repayments of rent arrears agreed to under rescheduling arrangements is due to circumstances beyond the household's control, for example, because the tenant has been laid off from his or her job. Amendment No. 1 relates to section 8(2)(f) of the Bill and provides that a tenancy warning relating to rent arrears shall, in setting out the possible consequences of not paying off rent arrears, refer to the relaxation of the rent arrears disqualification where non-payment of rescheduled payments is due to factors outside the household's control.
Amendments Nos. 12 and 13 to section 23 are linked with and update the rent arrears disqualification relating to the purchase of a dwelling under Part 3. Amendment No. 18 amends section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 to relax the existing rent arrears disqualification from eligibility for social housing support in the manner I have outlined. This amendment also extends the disqualification to cover arrears of rent owed to an approved housing body, as well as a housing authority.
Amendment No. 20 makes three amendments to the 2009 Act, two of which relax the existing rent arrears disqualification from eligibility to allow tenant purchases of newly built or newly acquired local authority housing under Part 3 of that Act or, under Part 4, local authority apartments. The amendments extend the rent arrears disqualification to cover arrears of rent owed to an approved housing body, as well as to a housing authority. Amendment No. 20 also deletes from the 2009 Act the requirement that an incremental purchaser of a newly built or newly acquired local authority house will, during the charge period, obtain the prior written consent of the housing authority to carry out material improvements to the house. This will make it easier for purchasers to improve their homes, with consequent benefits for the construction sector generally.
Amendment No. 27 amends the new subsection (5A) proposed to be inserted in section 20 of the 2009 Act.

The amendment brings the disqualification from continued social housing support relating to rent arrears into line with the other disqualifications relating to rent arrears by providing that a household in arrears of rent shall not cease to qualify for social housing support where the household's failure to repay rent arrears in accordance with rescheduling arrangements is, in the opinion of the housing authority or approved housing body concerned, due to circumstances outside the household's control. The main purpose of these amendments is to disapply the various statutory disqualifications from social housing supports relating to rent arrears in cases where the household's failure to meet repayment commitments is due to circumstances beyond its control. It is an easing of the situation in light of the fact that for many people the reason they cannot repay is because they have lost their jobs.