Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the new tenant purchase scheme which will give many families an opportunity to buy out their homes, which is everyone's ambition. I believe there are anomalies in the scheme as it stands in the case where one of a couple whose name would have been on the title of a property previously, whether in the case of a family home, parents' home, or a home from a previous relationship sold following a divorce, for instance, are now in a new relationship. The local authority is able to sell the house to that particular couple but they cannot lend them the money. This arises as a consequence of the incremental purchase charge on the property. These people are then advised to approach the bank for a mortgage but the bank will not lend to these people because of the incremental charge.

There is another anomaly which relates to the €15,000 earned income. This deprives elderly people of the opportunity to purchase their own homes. Everyone wants to purchase their home. These elderly people on pensions are in a position to buy their homes. This relates to houses that will not be returning to the housing stock - that would be a different situation - but they will not. That needs to be changed.

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