Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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108. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the reason local authority tenants are exempt from purchasing their house while receiving social welfare payments (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15677/17]

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 1 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 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 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.

In line with the commitment given in the Programme for a Partnership Government,and reaffirmed in the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness,a review of the first 12 months of the scheme’s operation is currently being undertaken by my Department. 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. I expect this review to be completed shortly.