Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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1706. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of mortgage-to-rent applications that were made in 2016 and 2017; the number that have been approved; the banks that were involved with the successful approvals; the number that were approved in cases in which local authority mortgages were in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54402/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Housing Agency publishes, on a quarterly basis, detailed statistical information on the operation of the MTR scheme, including the number of completed transactions by lender.  This information is available on the Agency's website at the following link:

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Following a Review of the Mortgage to Rent (MTR) Scheme, published on 8 February 2017, a range of amendments to the eligibility criteria and administration of the MTR scheme came into effect to enable more properties to qualify and to make the scheme more flexible and accessible to borrowers. The Review, available at the following link: , explored the impediments to participation in the scheme and recommended a number of actions to make the scheme work better for borrowers. 

My Department and the Housing Agency are working with all stakeholders to ensure that the actions set out in the Review are being effectively implemented to benefit a greater number of households.  I am providing an additional €5m for the MTR scheme this year, which will support at least 250 additional MTR cases to be completed by Approved Housing Bodies working together with lenders using the existing MTR scheme.

The MTR Review also concluded that the current financial model of the MTR scheme may not, in its current configuration, be capable of delivering the scale of successful cases that could benefit from the scheme over time.  In order to test the operability of alternative funding models for the scheme, the Housing Agency has been working with a number of financial entities who have expressed an interest in working with the MTR scheme to progress a number of alternative long-term lease arrangements.  In advance of these pilots and to establish the operability of an alternative financing approach, a targeted market testing exercise has been undertaken by the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA), to test the suitability of the proposed enhanced leasing arrangements to ascertain if they would be viable for a MTR cohort, taking account of the necessity to provide a long-term stable solution for eligible households. 

The responses to the market testing exercise have been reviewed by the Housing Agency and my Department.  A call for Expressions of Interest from bodies interested in pursuing pilot operating models was initiated by the Housing Agency on 26 October 2017. Once the Expressions of Interest process is concluded - the extended deadline for receipt of submissions is 31 January 2018 -  the Housing Agency will make recommendations to my Department as to the make-up of the pilots, which can then be initiated. 

Information in relation to the Local Authority Mortgage to Rent (LAMTR) Scheme for local authority borrowers is available on my Department’s website at the following link:

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From the scheme's inception in 2013 to the end of 2017, a total of 370 households had benefitted from the LAMTR Scheme and all applications received by my Department from local authorities were processed.