Written answers
Wednesday, 15 January 2014
Department of Environment, Community and Local Government
Tenant Purchase Scheme Administration
Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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483. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans for a new tenant purchase scheme to cater for persons who did not avail in time of the recently concluded scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1948/14]
Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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519. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government when a new tenant purchase scheme will become operational; the way the discount on the market value of the property will be calculated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1490/14]
Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 483 and 519 together.
The Government, on 17 December 2013, approved priority drafting of a Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill that will, among other things, underpin a new tenant purchase scheme for existing local authority houses along incremental purchase lines. I expect that the Bill will be enacted this year, following which I will prescribe in regulations the commencement date and the detailed terms of the scheme, including the manner in which the purchase price of the property and the discount on the purchase price will be calculated.
Paul Newsome
Posted on 18 Jan 2014 2:30 pm (Report this comment)
Dear Minister O Sullivan,
Is there any reason a similar 'tenant purchase scheme' cannot be created for Ireland's half million private renters whose 'dead-money' rents are supporting the whole negative equity banking black hole?
Create a scheme allowing (or demanding where neccessary) buy to let landlords in deep unresolveable negative equity debt to walk away from those residential properties as 'free and soluble agents'.
Then give the tenants the option to buy them as their own homes at prices written down to reality, with the rents they have already paid towards their landlord's negative equity mortgage taken into account.
Those new home-owners will take pride in their homes, spend money on refurbishing them, and put some activity back into the economy-instead of draining the life-blood out of it.
This will in turn take many of those people off your National Social Housing waiting list. It will remove many thousands more from the private rental search lists - giving those who still have to rent a better, cheaper choice of properties.
It will even give some of those new homeowners the chance to avail of The Government's rent-a-room scheme where they can take in students, thereby alleviating more pressure on private rental accommodation which students face every year.
This is not rocket science, it is basic common sense!
Regards,
Paul Newsome.