Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1356. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 728 and 734 of 10 October 2017, the number of persons who have been forced to pay outstanding water charges before they can avail of a mortgage to rent agreement. [46951/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Mortgage to Rent transactions require the sale of a property by a lender, subsequent to its voluntary surrender by a borrower, to an Approved Housing Body.  As with any property conveyance, charges relating to the property including water charges are required to be discharged prior to the completion of the sale. 

The Housing Agency publishes detailed statistics on a quarterly basis on the operation of the MTR scheme.  This information is available on the Agency's website at the following link:

.

From the scheme's inception in 2012 to the end of September 2017, a total of 282 MTR cases each necessitating a property conveyance transaction have been successfully completed.  Any MTR applicant who has paid water charges will be entitled to a refund once the Water Services Bill 2017, which I am currently bringing through the Houses of the Oireachtas, is enacted.