Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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172. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views on whether the mortgage-to-rent scheme is successful, given that just 2.9 % approximately of mortgage holders in arrears have attempted to participate in it and only 3% of these, or 0.6% of all mortgage holders in arrears, have completed the scheme; if he is putting measures in place to increase these participation and completion rates; his plans to redesign the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40888/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The AHB (private) Mortgage to Rent Scheme is now established as an important part of the mortgage arrears resolution process. Since the Scheme began in June 2012 a total of 3,120 cases were considered to the end of October 2015. 119 cases have been approved and a further 634 cases are being actively progressed. In addition, in 49 cases, agreement could not be reached on the sale and 20 cases are with the lenders seeking the consent of the borrower to share information and carry out an independent survey. The remaining 2,298 cases were ineligible or terminated during the process, comprising 282 cases not progressed because the household in question was deemed to be over or under accommodated, 869 cases withdrawn by the lender involved during the process, 206 applications found to have been submitted in duplicate by the lender. 941 cases that did not qualify for a range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.

The package of commitments on mortgage arrears announced by Government in May 2015 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. Amendments made with effect from July 2015 include increases in the valuation thresholds for properties, flexibility in relation to the size of properties which qualify for the scheme and amendments made to allow borrowers with marginal positive equity to be considered. In addition, the financial support available to AHBs for MTR cases has been increased.

I expect to see more cases qualify as a result of these new measures and my Department will continue to keep the Scheme under review.