Written answers

Thursday, 16 December 2021

Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government

Housing Schemes

Photo of Thomas GouldThomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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302. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he is considering applications from other private providers interested in providing the mortgage-to-rent scheme. [62514/21]

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Mortgage to Rent (MTR) scheme introduced in 2012 is targeted at supporting households in mortgage arrears who have had their mortgage position deemed unsustainable by their lender under the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP); agree to the voluntary surrender of their home and are deemed eligible for social housing support. The property in question must also meet certain eligibility criteria.

A Review of the MTR scheme for borrowers of commercial private lending institutions published in February 2017 explored the avenues and impediments to participation in the scheme and identified a number of actions to make the scheme work better for borrowers. As a result of the improvements implemented, an upward trend in case completions has been evident since 2018.

In the 2017 Review it was acknowledged that consideration needed to be given to the capacity of AHBs to intensify their involvement in the MTR scheme given the ambitious targets for the AHB sector around delivering new social housing supply. The 2017 Review committed to exploring the potential of private institutional investment in MTR in order to allow the MTR scheme to deliver at scale.

An Expressions of Interest (EOI) Request issued in 2017 inviting parties from the private sectors to express their interest in participating in a new alternatively funded long-term MTR lease model. The National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) acted as financial advisor during the process, undertaking due diligence on the financial capacity of the proposers to commit to the long-term undertaking of the scheme. It was critical that the entity (or entities selected) were capable of purchasing the required number of MTR cases, demonstrated the appropriate understanding of the MTR process and the position of borrowers in long-term mortgage arrears, as well as the capacity to undertake the management and structural maintenance of properties over the lifetime of the lease agreement. The outcome from the EOI process is that a new MTR alternatively funded lease model was announced in 2018 with Home for Life Ltd as the participant from the private sector.

At the present time there are no plans to run another Expressions of Interest process for further private MTR providers.

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