Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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412. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government when he expects a new tenant purchase scheme to become operational; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42363/13]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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415. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to replace the tenant purchase scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42405/13]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 412 and 415 together.

While the 1995 tenant purchase scheme for existing local authority houses closed for new applications on 31 December 2012, two incremental purchase schemes remain in operation, one for newly-built local authority houses and the other for local authority apartments.

Work is proceeding on the preparation of the General Scheme of a Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, which is expected to be submitted to Government later this year for approval to draft the Bill. Among other things, the Bill will underpin a new tenant purchase scheme for existing local authority houses along incremental purchase lines, involving discounts for purchasing tenants linked to household income and a discount-related charge on the property that will dwindle away over a period unless the house is resold or the purchaser fails to comply with conditions of the sale. The commencement date for the new scheme will be set when the necessary regulations are made on enactment of the Bill.