Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | 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?

Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | 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.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the regulations were put in place to ensure communities were of a mixed tenure and to enable integration. However, if the tenant to whom I referred were to buy her house in the morning, she would still be the same person. It will not change the make-up of the community if she transitions from a social housing tenant to the owner of her home by way of the tenant purchase scheme. I would understand if the property in question was designed for somebody with a disability, in which case it would be in the best interests of the council to retain it in the longer term given the huge shortage of properties suitable for persons with disabilities. However, we are talking about a three-bedroom semi-detached house which has not been upgraded or refurbished to make it accessible. The tenant and her family have been living there for ten years and, under the current legislation, will never have the opportunity to purchase it. Will the Minister of State ask the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to consider introducing a once-off break to allow people like this woman the opportunity to buy their own home under the tenant purchase scheme? It would not have to be open-ended arrangement. In fact, something similar was done in the past, in 2011, when the scheme was opened up for 12 months. I am calling for an exemption, for a limited time period, for people in the same position as the tenant to whom I referred, under Part V of the Planning and Development Act, as amended.

Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In line with the commitment given in the Rebuilding Ireland: An Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, a review of all aspects of the first 12 months of operation of the scheme is being undertaken by the Minister's Department in close consultation with local authorities. The Minister will consider the need for any change in the terms and conditions of the scheme based on the evidence presented by the review, which he expects to be completed by the end of the first quarter. As part of the review process, the Department is engaged in a public consultation process which will inform the outcome of the review. The Minister encourages all those interested in the scheme to make a contribution to the process. Full details of how this can be done are on the Department's website.

I have noted the details of the resident to whom the Deputy referred. It was very unfair that she received a letter from Cork County Council indicating she was eligible for the tenant purchase scheme before being informed the council had made a mistake. I understand the family's frustration and disappointment and concur with the Deputy's sentiments in that regard.