Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 134: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if consideration will be given to a review of the shared ownership loan scheme with a view to achieving a greater degree of fairness for those currently holding such mortgages; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30679/11]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Where any borrower, including a borrower purchasing under the shared ownership scheme, is facing difficulties in meeting mortgage repayments, they should engage proactively and constructively with the lender to seek to achieve an agreed solution. The services of the Money Advice and Budgeting Service are also available to such borrowers and support is available through the Supplementary Welfare Allowance Scheme.

Provisions regarding lending by local authorities for the purposes of house purchase are set out in section 11 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992. Where a loan stands in default, section 11(10) provides that a local authority may make such monetary arrangements with a borrower as they consider equitable to take account of the particular circumstances of the borrower. In addition, my Department issued comprehensive guidance to local authorities on the treatment of mortgage arrears, including local authority mortgages for shared ownership transactions, in March 2010. That guidance was closely based on the Central Bank's first statutory Code of Conduct on Mortgage Arrears to ensure that cases of local authority mortgage arrears are handled in a manner that is sympathetic to the needs of the particular household, while also protecting the position of the local authority concerned. To reflect the content of the Central Bank's revised Code of Conduct – which replaced the previous code from 1 January 2011 and was informed by the deliberations of the Expert Group on Mortgage Arrears and Personal Debt – my Department is currently preparing updated guidance to local authorities in consultation with the City and County Managers Association.

Mortgage interest supplement under the Supplementary Welfare Scheme, administered by the Department of Social Protection, is payable, subject to the qualifying conditions of that scheme, in respect of mortgages under shared ownership transactions, in the same way as in the case of mortgages generally. Under the Shared Ownership Scheme, further support is available through rent subsidy. This is available to households who have a gross household income of up to €28,000 per annum in the preceding tax year. The level of subsidy ranges between €2,550 for incomes up to €13,000 and €1,050 for incomes up to €28,000.

The Government's housing policy statement, published on 16 June 2011, announced the standing down of all affordable housing schemes, including the shared ownership scheme, in the context of a full review of Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000.