Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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580. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will amend the conditions applied by the Housing Agency with regard to consideration for acquiring properties under the mortgage-to-rent scheme in association with voluntary housing bodies to a level of €300,000, to reflect increased property prices. [9389/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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On foot of the recommendations of the Keane Report on mortgage arrears the Government launched the AHB Mortgage to Rent scheme ( AHB-mortgage-to-rent ) on a pilot basis in February 2012 and extended it nationally in June 2012. The scheme is currently in operation and continues to accept applications from lending institutions.

To be eligible for the AHB-mortgage-to-rent scheme a household must have had their mortgage position deemed unsustainable under the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process, agree to the voluntary surrender of their home, be in negative equity, and be deemed eligible for social housing in accordance with section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009.

In relation to the application of a maximum property value, in order for a property to be considered under the scheme it must be purchased for less than €220,000 in the Greater Dublin Area and €180,000 in the rest of the country. These limits were determined by a working group which took account of available market data and the current social housing acquisition limits. These limits are considered to be reasonable in respect of the income bracket that is targeted by the scheme.