Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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188. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will review and amend the criteria of the local authority house purchase scheme to accommodate the financial support that families wish to give their parents who are council tenants in the purchase of their homes from the local authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33327/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme is open to eligible tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority houses that are available for sale under the Scheme.

Under the Scheme, the tenant pays the market value of the house less a discount. It is the responsibility of the tenant to raise the finance to purchase the house. A tenant may fund the purchase money for a house from a mortgage loan and/or their own resources which may include funds provided by family members.

Notwithstanding this, to be eligible for this Scheme, tenants must meet certain criteria, including having a minimum reckonable income of €15,000 per annum. 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. This ensures compliance with the conditions of the order transferring the ownership of, and responsibility for, the house from the local authority to the tenant.

In line with the commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Governmentand reaffirmed in Rebuilding Ireland- Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, it is intended that a review of the Scheme will be undertaken in January 2017 following the first 12 months of operation and any changes to the terms and conditions of the scheme which are considered necessary based on the evidence gathered at that stage will be brought forward.