Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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321. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will consider allowing pensioners to buy out local authority houses using social protection payments under the tenant purchase scheme in cases where sites were originally provided by tenants to the local authority to build on as was the case in older social housing schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20854/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The new Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme came into operation on 1 January 2016. The Scheme is open to eligible tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority houses that are available for sale under the Scheme and applies to all existing local authority houses, other than those classes of houses excluded under legislation. To be eligible, tenants must meet certain criteria, including having been in receipt of social housing support for a minimum period of one year and having a minimum reckonable income of €15,000 per annum. The minimum reckonable income for eligibility under the Scheme is determined by the relevant housing authority in accordance with the detailed provisions of the Ministerial Directions issued under Sections 24(3) and (4) of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014. In the determination of the minimum reckonable income, housing authorities can include income from a number of different sources and classes, such as from employment, private pensions, maintenance payments and certain social welfare payments, including pensions, where the social welfare payment is secondary to employment income.

In determining reckonable income, the income of the tenants of the house, including adult children that are joint tenants can be included, as can the income of the spouse, civil partner or other partner/co-habitant of a tenant who lives in the house with them.

In order to ensure the sustainability of the scheme, it is essential that an applicant’s income is of a long-term and sustainable nature. This is necessary to ensure that the tenant purchasing the house is in a financial position, as the owner, to maintain and insure the property for the duration of the charged period, in compliance with the conditions of the order transferring the ownership of, and responsibility for, the house from the local authority to the tenant.

The terms of the Scheme involve discounts of 40%, 50% or 60% off the purchase price of the house, linked to tenant income. In cases where the original site was provided by the tenant, the legislation governing the Scheme provides that the value of the site is considered in determining the purchase price of the house.

In line with the commitment in the new Programme for a Partnership Government, I intend to undertake a review of the 2016 scheme following its first 12 months of operation. I will bring forward any changes to the terms and conditions of the scheme which are considered necessary based on the evidence gathered at that stage.