Mr. Stephen Mason:

Perhaps I can take that question. The Deputy is correct that we have completed five cases. Nine are sale agreed and contracted. It is hoped that they will complete shortly as well. There are another seven in respect of which we have accepted the offer made by the approved housing body. It is now with the customer to accept what has been proposed. There are five completed and a number of others close to completion. There are 50 awaiting confirmation of demand from the local authorities and AHB. There are a number of others that for various reasons did not proceed, including a lack of demand for social housing and the customer opting not to participate in the scheme. I agree that the numbers completed at this point are disappointing. We are great supporters of mortgage to rent. It appears to us to be a very good solution to the problem for people whose properties are suitable for social housing, and for the people themselves.

We wrote to the committee 12 months ago, outlining details of how we thought the process could be improved. There have been some changes made recently. A new protocol, while it has not been signed off on, is in the process of being agreed. It deals with some of the issues around timelines and the amount of hand-offs that are in the process. There are a number of things that we believe need to be done to improve the process, including the establishment of a centralised dedicated agency to deal with mortgage to rent. The eligibility criteria undoubtedly needs to be revisited.

For example, if customers had any small equity in the property they would not be eligible and if there was no local demand for social housing, they would not be eligible. They would be ineligible if incomes were over a small threshold and the types of family unit in a property sometimes cause the property not to be eligible for social housing. They are among the bigger issues but there is nothing that could not be overcome with the right people in the room. The process could be made to work.