Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to outline to the House the steps being taken towards extending the opportunity for home ownership to tenants of local authority apartments.

The Government announced its intention to introduce a scheme for the sale of local authority apartments under certain conditions in the Housing Policy Framework — Building Sustainable Communities, published in December 2005. This commitment was reiterated in Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities, the Government statement on housing policy published in February 2007. Furthermore, the agreed programme for Government published in June 2007 indicated that the Government would "expand the paths to home ownership to assist the maximum number of people in gaining a stake in their own home."

Previous efforts to introduce tenant purchase for local authority apartments were thwarted by the difficulties associated with the scheme. Work is continuing on a model for the sale of apartments to tenants which addresses those difficulties. The model is based on the long-standing arrangements in the private sector for the ownership and management of multi-unit residential developments. Of course, the transition from a rented social housing complex to a mixed tenure of privately-owned and social-rented accommodation adds an extra dimension to the legal and practical problems that can arise.

Any model leading to a viable scheme for the tenant purchase of apartments must address the following issues: the need to establish fair, equitable and proportionate arrangements to give tenant purchasers and the local authority a voice in the management of the apartment complex; the role of a management company, representative of all apartment owners, including the local authority, in managing and maintaining the common areas and services in the complex; the need for tenant purchasers to contribute, through service charges, towards the ongoing maintenance of common areas and services; arrangements for sharing the costs of insurance covering the entire complex; and the need to create a reserve fund to pay for major improvement works required in the future.

It was not possible to resolve the complex issues involved in time for the publication of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008 in July. Second Stage reading of the Bill has now begun. We are, however, determined to pursue an initiative in this area as quickly as possible but we must also get it right. Our aim is to establish a robust legislative framework that would stand the test of time for all stakeholders, namely, apartment buyers, apartment tenants who choose not to buy, and local authorities.

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