Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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599. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if there is consideration of home extensions which significantly increase the value of the property in calculating the clawback in cases in which a person who purchased their home via the current incremental purchase scheme opts to sell the property before the 20 year clawback period. [39185/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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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.

Part 3 Section 26 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 sets out that the relevant local authority will place a charge on the house sold under the scheme. This charge will be equal to the discount received the price of the house and will remain in place for 20, 25 or 30 years (depending on the discount given).

Part 3 Section 29 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 provides for the resale of a property.  Where a purchaser proposes to sell a house during the charged period, he or she shall give prior written notice to the housing authority in accordance with the terms and conditions specified in the transfer order.

Where a purchaser resells a house to a person other than a housing authority during the charged period, the purchaser shall pay to the housing authority concerned the value of the outstanding charged share in the house on the date of resale of the house, which is calculated by applying that share to the relevant market value of the house.  An allowance equal to the amount of the market value attributable to material improvements can also be applied.

Where a tenant purchase applicant disputes a housing authority’s market valuation of a house, the market value or relevant market value, as appropriate, shall be determined by an independent valuer nominated by the purchaser from a panel of valuers drawn up by the authority and with the qualifications set down in Regulation 16, with the purchaser meeting the cost of the valuation.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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600. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the date on which sections 6 and 19 of the Residential Tenancies (No 2) Act 2021 was commenced; and if this is the date from which rent reviews within rent pressure zone are linked to the harmonised indices of consumer prices. [39219/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Act 2021 was signed into law on 9 July 2021 and all sections, apart from section 6, came into operation on that date.

Following enactment, the Act was enrolled by the Supreme Court and published on the Irish Statute Book on 15 July 2021. Section 6, which relates to rent setting came into operation on 16 July 2021 on foot of the Residential Tenancies (No. 2) Act (Commencement Order) 2021, which I signed on 15 July 2021, the earliest legally permissable date.

Accordingly, any valid notice of rent review served on or after 16 July 2021 in relation to a tenancy of a dwelling in a Rent Pressure Zone cannot provide for a rent increase that exceeds any inflation, as recorded by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices, since the last rent setting. The imposition of any rent increase remains subject to any new rent set not exceeding the market rent for that tenancy. Comprehensive information is available on the Residential Tenancies Board’s website – www.rtb.ie.

Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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601. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the supports available for a person (details supplied) who has been on a waiting list for local authority housing for 17 years. [39249/21]

Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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602. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if there will be interdepartmental coordination between his Department and the Department of Justice in order to prevent a situation from reoccurring whereby a victim of domestic abuse has been allocated housing on the same street as their perpetrator (details supplied); and the Minister that takes responsibility to issue a directive or bureaucratic mechanism that would prevent this from occurring again in the future. [39250/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 601 and 602 together.

Applications for social housing support are assessed by the relevant local authority, in accordance with the eligibility and need criteria set down in section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the associated Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, as amended.

If a household meets the eligibility and need criteria, it qualifies for the suite of social housing supports, including HAP, and is placed on the housing list to be considered for the allocation of suitable tenancies in accordance with the authority’s allocation scheme. It is a matter for the local authority to determine the most appropriate form of social housing support for that household in the administrative area of that local authority.  

The allocation of local authority dwellings, including the prioritisation of certain households, is a matter for the local authority concerned, in accordance with their allocation scheme made under section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and associated Regulations. This legislation requires all local authorities, as a reserved function, to make an allocation scheme determining the order of priority to be accorded in the allocation of dwellings to households qualified for social housing support and to households approved for a transfer, the allocation of which would, in the opinion of the authority, meet the accommodation needs and requirements of the households.

It is the local authority which assesses housing applicants, taking into account factors such as the condition and affordability of existing accommodation, medical and compassionate grounds, etc. The authority then prioritises the needs of approved applicants in accordance with its allocation scheme.

Decisions on the allocation  of social housing support are a matter solely for the local authority concerned. Each application must be considered on its own merits and the individual circumstances taken into account.

As Minister I am precluded by housing legislation from intervening in relation to the procedures followed, or decisions made, by local authorities in the provision of social housing support in individual cases.

Responsibility for the development and provision of services to support victims of domestic violence rests with my colleague the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and I understand that the delivery of these services is managed by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency.

In terms of housing services, in 2017, my Department issued policy and procedural guidance to local authorities relating to the role they can play to assist victims of domestic violence. The guidance is also a useful reference for service providers working in the sector, highlighting where they can be of greatest assistance to their clients, covering a range of scenarios that may arise for victims of domestic violence currently in receipt of social housing support and those seeking social housing supports. These include provisions whereby a household may transfer out of their existing tenancy and into a new tenancy agreement with the local authority or they may access an independent tenancy in the private rented sector utilising the various housing supports offered by the State.