Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Coveney, cannot be here and has asked me to respond on his behalf.

The incremental tenant purchase scheme came into operation on 1 January 2016 and is open to eligible tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority houses that are available for sale under the scheme. The Housing (Sale of Local Authority Houses) Regulations 2015 governing the scheme provide for a number of specified classes of properties to be excluded from sale, including units provided to local authorities under Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, houses designed for occupation by older people, group Traveller housing, and houses provided for persons with disabilities making the transition from congregated settings to community-based living. Local authorities may also exclude houses for reasons of proper estate management of stock, on account of their structural condition, or on the basis of proposals the authority may have to carry out remedial works in the estate concerned or regenerate the area in which the house is located.

The provisions of Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, are designed to enable the development of mixed-tenure, sustainable communities. Part V units are excluded from the incremental tenant purchase scheme to ensure units delivered under that mechanism remain available for people in need of social housing support and that the original policy goals of the legislation are not eroded over time. The continued development of mixed-tenure communities remains very important in promoting social integration. In addition, Part 3 of the 2014 Act obliges tenants to meet certain criteria in order to be eligible for the scheme. These include having a minimum reckonable income of €15,000 per annum and having been in receipt of social housing support for at least one year.

In the determination of the minimum reckonable income, housing authorities may include income from a number of different sources and classes, such as employment, private pensions, maintenance payments and certain social welfare payments, including pensions, where the social welfare payment is secondary to employment income. I understand there may be some tenants whose application under the scheme was refused on the basis they do not meet this income criterion. This element of the scheme rules was introduced to safeguard the sustainability of the scheme itself. It is essential that an applicant's income is long term and sustainable in nature. This is necessary to ensure the tenant purchasing the house is in a financial position, as the owner, to maintain and insure the property for the duration of the charged period, in compliance with the conditions of the order transferring the ownership of, and responsibility for, the house from the local authority to the tenant.

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