John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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921. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to put in place a new tenant purchase scheme for local authority houses; if and when this will take place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1322/15]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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927. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government when the new tenant purchase scheme which was announced will become operational; the terms and conditions thereof; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1485/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 921 and 927 together.

Part 3 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 provides for a new scheme for the tenant purchase of existing local authority houses which will replace the 1995 scheme and the once–off 2011 scheme, which closed in June 2014 and June 2013, respectively.

The Social Housing Strategy 2020, which was published in November 2014, includes a commitment to introduce the new tenant purchase scheme by the second quarter of this year. The scheme will operate along the lines of the incremental purchase model currently operating for local authority apartments and certain new local authority houses, which involve discounts for purchasers linked to household income and a discount-related charge on the property that reduces to nil over a period, unless the house is resold or the purchaser fails to comply with conditions of the sale. Where the tenant purchaser resells the property before the end of the charge period, he or she will be required to pay back to the housing authority a portion of any profits arising from the sale, thereby compensating the State for its loss on the original sale of the property and generating funds for the local authority to invest in new social housing or the refurbishment of existing housing.

Full details of the new scheme will be set out in regulations that I will make as part of the introduction of the scheme.