Results 10,961-10,980 of 17,531 for speaker:Jan O'Sullivan

Seanad: Private Rented Sector: Statements (6 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I am very pleased to be back in the Seanad to have an opportunity to speak on the subject of the private rented sector. The past five years have been turbulent and traumatic in the housing market. An obsession with residential property as an investment vehicle rather than as a home was driven by the failed pro-cyclical policies of the past decade. Home ownership, a noble aspiration,...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Private Rented Accommodation Deposits (6 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 regulates the tenant-landlord relationship in the private rented residential sector. Under the Act a tenancy includes any periodic or fixed term tenancy whether oral, written or implied and a tenancy agreement includes an oral tenancy agreement. It is a matter for the tenant and landlord to agree the terms and conditions of a lease or tenancy agreement...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Property Taxation Exemptions (6 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: In the context of Budget 2013, the Government announced the introduction of a local property tax which will replace the annual household charge. It was also decided that a waiver will apply in certain circumstances; a prescribed list of unfinished estates, subject to certain criteria and identified as part of the National Housing Development Survey 2012, in respect of which the property tax...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Rental Accommodation Scheme Criteria (6 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: Under the Rental Accommodation Scheme local authorities enter into contractual arrangements on behalf of tenants with accommodation providers, primarily in the private rented sector, to secure medium to long-term availability of rented accommodation. The lease on these units can vary from 1 year to over 10 years. The RAS involves a three way contractual relationship between landlord,...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Rental Accommodation Scheme Property Numbers (6 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: Since the Rental Accommodation Scheme commenced in late 2005 to the end of December 2012 some 1,208 and 781 households have been transferred from Rent Supplement to RAS and other social housing options respectively in Counties Louth and Meath. The table below sets out the annual transfer numbers:- 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Louth 17 169 158 281 ...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Planning Issues (6 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: Under section 30 of the Planning and Development Acts 2000 - 2011, I am, as nister, specifically precluded from exercising any power or control in relation to any particular case, including an enforcement matter, with which a planning authority or An Bord Pleanála is or may be concerned.

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Local Authority Housing Applications (6 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: Sections of the Housing (scellaneous Provisions) Act, 2009 dealing with social housing support, and related Social Housing Assessment Regulations, 2011, were commenced on 1 April 2011. These provisions introduced a new standard procedure for assessing applicants for social housing in every housing authority. One of the important provisions of the new regulations is that a household may...

Other Questions: Commercial Rates Calculations (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: Connolly is ours, not Deputy Boyd Barrett's.

Other Questions: NAMA Social Housing (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: We must get that balance right. In fairness to NAMA, it has put several million euro into restoring and bringing these various units up to a level where they can be taken over. We will continue to meet with NAMA. We have not met with it yet in 2013 but we will do so. We will ensure that we get the best possible dividend from it. I understand there are still a number of empty properties...

Other Questions: NAMA Social Housing (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: -----and we want to get as many of them as we possibly can. There is an economic dividend involved. NAMA is holding them in the sense that it does not have them to give away for free and we must be conscious of that.

Other Questions: NAMA Social Housing (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I appreciate the points the Deputies have made but we are under severe constraints with regard to the troika agreement and the amount of public money that can be spent at present. Therefore, we have to get the best possible value for money. While I would love to be do what Deputy Boyd Barrett has suggested and provide for the building of a large number of local authority houses - I hope we...

Other Questions: NAMA Social Housing (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I agree but it must be done through the market as well as through the social housing system.

Other Questions: NAMA Social Housing (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I accept that progress was slow in the early stages but it is accelerating. As he accepted, that is largely due to a couple of factors on which we have been working hard. The Minister, Deputy Hogan, and I met with the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, on a number of occasions last year. The special purpose vehicle is important because it involves gathering units into it which then...

Other Questions: NAMA Social Housing (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I appreciate that Deputy Stanley has put forward suggestions. We are examining all of them. The difficulty with NAMA is that as part of its legislative remit it must return an economic dividend to the State. At the same time they have a remit on a social dividend.

Other Questions: NAMA Social Housing (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: I propose to take Questions Nos. 133 and 193 together. Since December 2011, NAMA has identified 3,949 properties as being potentially available for social housing. The local authorities and the Housing Agency have been working systematically with NAMA to determine if there is a social housing demand for properties identified as potentially suitable for social housing, including the need...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Assistance Scheme (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: First, two legislative items will be necessary to introduce the scheme. One measure must come from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to introduce housing assistance payment, HAP, and the other must come from the Department of Social Protection with particular regard to deductions at source. As for the pilot areas, my Department is considering what would be...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Assistance Scheme (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: In response to the question on RAS, it is intended that the HAP will replace the RAS system, albeit not absolutely immediately, as it will be a gradual process. However, it is intended that it will replace the RAS system because the housing assistance payment will be a similar way of paying, with a differential rent-type way for the tenants to pay. In effect, it will duplicate the RAS...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Rent Assistance Scheme (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: In March 2012, the Government approved in principle a joint proposal by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Minister for Social Protection to transfer responsibility for recipients of rent supplement with an established long-term housing need from the Department of Social Protection to local housing authorities. The new service would be provided using a...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Private Residential Tenancies Board Remit (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 sets out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants in the private rented residential sector. The Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) was established as an independent statutory body under the Act to operate a national tenancy registration system and to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants in the sector. The Residential Tenancies...

Written Answers — Department of Environment, Community and Local Government: Mortgage to Rent Scheme Application Numbers (5 Feb 2013)

Jan O'Sullivan: On foot of the recommendations of the Keane Report on mortgage arrears the Government launched a mortgage to rent scheme on a pilot basis in February 2012. This scheme was extended nationally in June 2012, targeting those low income families whose mortgage situation is unsustainable and where there is little or no prospect of a significant change in circumstances in the foreseeable future....