Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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194. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the number of properties which have been successfully purchased through the mortgage-to-rent scheme since its launch in 2012 by county, in tabular form; his plans to reform the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39879/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The Government has committed to taking decisive action to address the mortgage arrears challenge, seeking to ensure that a full range of options is available to distressed borrowers and to keep as many people in their homes as possible. The Approved Housing Body (AHB) Mortgage to Rent Scheme is now well established as part of the overall suite of social housing options and an important part of the arrears resolution process. The package of commitments on mortgage arrears announced by Government in May of this year included a number of amendments to the AHB Mortgage to Rent Scheme which will enable more properties to qualify for the Scheme, and make it more flexible and accessible to borrowers. The principal amendment to the scheme is to increase the valuation thresholds applicable which should enable more properties to qualify. These amendments took effect from 1 July 2015.

Since the Scheme began in June 2012 a total of 3,120 cases were considered to the end of October 2015. Of these, 2,298 were ineligible or terminated during the process, including 282 cases not progressed because the household in question was deemed to be over or under accommodated, 869 cases withdrawn by the lender involved during the process, 206 applications found to have been submitted in duplicate by the lender, and 941 cases that did not qualify for a range of reasons including the householder’s circumstances improving during the process, no social housing demand in the area, the householder’s income over the set limits and poor condition of the property.

Of the remaining 822 cases, agreement on the sale could not be reached on 49 cases, 20 are currently with the lenders who are seeking the consent of borrowers to share information and for the carrying out of an independent valuation, 634 are actively being progressed and 119 cases have been approved. The following table provides a breakdown of approved cases by county.

My Department will continue to keep the operation of the Mortgage to Rent Scheme under review.