Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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47. 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. [35358/16]

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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75. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will review the income criteria for the local authority house purchase scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35359/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 47 and 75 together.

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.

To be eligible for this Scheme, tenants must meet certain criteria, including having a minimum reckonable income of €15,000 per annum. This is in order to ensure that they are 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 minimum reckonable income for eligibility under the Scheme is determined by the relevant housing authority in accordance with the detailed provisions of the Ministerial Direction issued under Sections 24(3) and (4) of the 2014 Act. 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. The only income that can be included is the income of the tenants of the house.

In line with the commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Government and 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. 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.