Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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144. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his plans to affect changes to the tenant purchase scheme introduced in 2016 due to the significant restrictive terms of eligibility attached which prevents long-term tenants and long-term social welfare recipients from purchasing the house they live in; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3463/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The 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. To be eligible, tenants must meet certain criteria, including having a minimum reckonable income of €15,000 per annum and having been in receipt of social housing support for at least one year.

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.

In order to ensure the sustainability of the scheme, it is essential that an applicant’s income is long-term and sustainable in 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.

In line with the commitment given in Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, my Department is currently carrying out a review of the first 12 months of operation of the scheme. Details of how to get involved in the public consultation process which will inform this review can be found on my Department’s website at the following link:

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I expect the review to be completed by the end of Quarter 1 2017.