Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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134. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if his Department has investigated the impact of distressed debt specialists on the housing market; the number of tenants that have been asked to quit their tenancies as a result of requests for vacant sales; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2401/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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A lack of additional housing supply coming on stream over the past decade or so in the areas of strongest demand is one of the principal root causes of our current housing crisis. Activity by institutional and professional residential sector investment specialists such as Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS) in purchasing housing and engaging in the building out of part completed schemes and commencing new housing projects is a positive signal of investment beginning to flow back into the housing sector to provide increased housing supply.

The acquisition and management of properties by REITS is one component part of a more sustainable, long-term property rental market for both investors and tenants. While commercial property investment has been a key focus for some of the REITs launched to date in Ireland, residential property also forms part of the sector's interest and exposure. It is expected that the sector will continue to develop over time and in so doing to increase the supply of professionally managed, good quality, secure and affordable rented accommodation. Investments by REITs that increase the number of dwellings available in the rented sector are a positive development. That said, a diverse sector, which includes both institutional investors specialised in providing and managing larger scale residential rental projects and small scale and individual landlords, is inherently more stable and less exposed to property market risk and volatility.

Historically the private rented sector in Ireland has been largely made up of small-scale landlords, who will continue to provide the bulk of private rented accommodation. Institutional investors can also help provide the range of tenancy options that households need across their lifecycles. Attracting large scale investment in property has an important role to play in helping to deliver the professional high-standard rental sector that tenants deserve.

In cases where buy-to-let mortgages are sold on by the original lender, the rights and responsibilities of the landlord and tenant and the terms of the mortgage are unaffected. However, I am very aware of the scale of the problem of debt distressed landlords. There are more than 25,000 buy to let mortgage accounts in arrears and more than half of these have arrears of over two years. In many cases, when these result in receivership and repossession, the lender does seek to sell the property with vacant possession, although such cases only come to the attention of the Residential Tenancies Board when a dispute arises. Under the Strategy for the Rental Sector, published in December, my Department is establishing a working group with the participation of the Departments of Justice & Equality, Finance, and Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation, to explore the scope for landlord obligations to be transferred to receivers in such cases. The Working Group will report by the end of March this year.

In relation to the numbers of tenants that have been served with notices of termination for the purposes of vacant sales, my Department does not hold or collate the information requested.