Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. We developed the cost rental tenant in situ scheme for tenants in private rental homes who are at risk of homelessness because the landlord intends to sell. This was an add-on to the tenant in situ scheme which I mentioned earlier. There were more than 1,800 purchases last year and we will continue that scheme into this year. We will continue the cost rental tenant in situ scheme into this year. I did not see it as being the main deliverer for many people there, but we are also using the first-home scheme for renters who want to buy the home that they are in. That is working well too.

The cost rental tenant in situ scheme is being operated on an administrative basis at the moment. We will have to legislate for it. We are currently completing the relevant policy work to ensure the transition to the standard cost rental model via the approved housing bodies, AHBs, has the required legal and financial framework in place. I intend to bring forward the necessary amendments to the Affordable Housing Act 2021 in due course to enable that transition. That will not stop any applications to the cost rental tenant in situ scheme. We will continue that on an administrative basis, but it will require amendments to the Affordable Housing Act, which I will bring forward.

The general scheme of the residential tenancies (right to purchase) Bill was approved by the Government on 24 October 2023 to provide the tenant with the right of first refusal where a landlord intends to sell a rented dwelling. The Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, as the Deputy knows, completed pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the Bill in December 2023 and published its report on 19 December. Legal drafting is continuing and I expect to publish the Bill in this quarter.

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