Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This concerns the tenant incremental purchase scheme 2016. This scheme is operated by local authorities and gives tenants the opportunities to buy their homes. As the Minister of State will be aware, certain categories of houses under the ownership of local authorities cannot be sold to tenants under legislation. These include properties that have been transferred to a planning authority in accordance with and agreement under section 96 of the Planning and Development Act - in other words, Part V houses. If a developer builds a private estate, a certain percentage of houses in it are handed over to the local authority. If someone is a council tenant living in one of those properties, they are unable to buy their homes under the legislation.

I raise this issue for two reasons. The first is because I wonder whether the Department has any plans to review the policy and make a once-off offer to those tenants. I am dealing with a constituent who has been a tenant in one of these properties for the past ten years. She qualifies under all of the other criteria - in other words, she has been a tenant for ten years and is within the income limits but, unfortunately, she is in this category of houses which under the legislation cannot be sold or transferred. The sad thing is that these tenants will probably never have the opportunity to buy their own homes unless there is some review of the legislation. They do not earn enough to get mortgages to buy brand new homes. The point of a tenant purchase scheme is to give tenants who have been living in a local authority the opportunity to buy their homes at a reduced price.

The second issue I want to raise concerns local authorities. The lady to whom I referred got a letter in June 2011 asking for expressions of interest under the 2011 scheme. At that moment in time, she did not go ahead with it because she did not meet the other criteria - in other words, she had not been a tenant for ten years. She received another letter requesting an expression of interest in August 2016. I have no issue with the letter because it clearly stated on behalf of Cork County Council that a tenant was only qualified for the scheme if they had been occupying a property which was available for sale from the council. The letter referred to the tenant handbook which outlines the properties which are tenants are unable to buy. Unfortunately, the tenant did not refer to the handbook. My issue is that the council has a list of these properties and should not send out letters to tenants by name and address when it knows very well from the outset that these tenants cannot buy one of these houses under the scheme. She received the letter on 17 August 2016 and made her expression of interest. The council asked for a set of accounts for herself and her husband.

She went through all that rigmarole and paid a €100 deposit. It took the council three months to write back to inform her she was not eligible under the legislation. This family's hopes were raised that they would finally be in a position to buy their own home, only to be informed that this was, in fact, not possible. Are there any plans to introduce a once-off derogation to allow tenants in that position the opportunity to buy their homes?

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