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

I thank Deputy Kitt for raising this important issue, in which he has previously expressed an interest in the committee. I want to set out the Government's position. The 1995 tenant purchase scheme, as it is commonly known, has been a major success, enabling more than 32,000 local authority tenants to purchase their homes. However, take-up on the scheme has dwindled in recent years and there were only 195 purchases across all housing authorities in 2010. The time is right to look at other tenant purchase options.

In this context, in June 2010 my Department requested housing authorities to notify all eligible tenants of the decision to wind down the 1995 scheme over two years and replace it with a new tenant purchase scheme along incremental purchase lines. I decided in June of this year to extend the closing date for applying to purchase under the scheme and I have recently signed regulations prescribing 31 December 2012 as the last day for applying to purchase and 31 December 2013 as the last day for selling houses under the scheme. That gives one year in which the applications can be processed. By the closing date, tenants will have had two and a half years to decide whether they wish to apply to purchase under the existing scheme or to await the new replacement scheme.

The Government is committed to retaining an option for local authority tenants, who are in a position to do so, to purchase their homes. My Department is currently developing the heads of a housing Bill which will provide, among other things, for a new purchase scheme for tenants of existing local authority houses. I intend to seek Government approval for the drafting of the Bill as soon as possible so enactment can proceed without delay.

The new scheme will be based on the incremental purchase model, involving sales price discounts for tenants related to household income, and a corresponding local authority charge on the property that will dwindle away over a period unless the house is resold or the tenant purchaser fails to comply with certain conditions of the sale. These provisions are in line with the terms of two tenant purchase schemes introduced in recent years, one for designated new local authority houses and one for local authority tenants of apartments. I look forward to introducing the new scheme as quickly as possible after the existing scheme ends in December 2013.

We have signalled for quite some time that the scheme is coming to an end. People have until the end of the year to apply but there is then a full year for processing, which gives a significant amount of time. In addition, as Deputy Kitt suggested, we will be bringing forward legislation next year in regard to a new scheme.

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