Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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86. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government when it is envisaged that the required regulations setting out the detailed criteria of the local authority affordable purchase scheme will be issued; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21350/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Part 2 of the Affordable Housing Act 2021, which I commenced on 3 September 2021, lays the foundation for the Local Authority Affordable Purchase Scheme, which allows all Local Authorities to make available affordable homes for purchase. This is a key element in the Government's Housing For All strategy and will enable home ownership through an equity share model, in which eligible purchasers are able to buy the homes at prices significantly below open market value and in return the Local Authority takes a percentage equity interest in the home. 

On 13 April 2022 I signed two sets of Regulations to govern the implementation of this scheme by Local Authorities, both of which came into effect that day and which were announced in Iris Oifigiúil on 19 April. The Affordable Housing Regulations 2022 set out the eligibility criteria for the scheme, including the specific gross income limit calculated with reference to the market value of each affordable home. The Affordable Housing (No. 2) Regulations 2022 provide for a number of other matters, including the process by which Local Authorities will advertise homes, receive and assess applications, and operate a Scheme of Priority. These Regulations has been circulated to Local Authorities along with an Explanatory Note and an Income Assessment Policy. The texts of Regulations are available online on the Irish Statute Book website at: 

www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2022/si/183/made/en/print  

www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2022/si/184/made/en/print 

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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87. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if a Tenant Incremental Purchase Scheme application can be considered a joint application under a discretionary process considering the practicalities in such a circumstance further to the recent changes announced to the Tenant Incremental Purchase Scheme in which the applicants are married since 2008 but only one of the applicants is on the tenancy agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21352/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme is open to eligible tenants, including joint tenants, of local authority houses that are available for sale under the Scheme. 

The scheme was reviewed in line with Programme for Government and Housing for All commitments in 2021, with amendments to these criteria subsequently approved by Government. The amendments came into effect on 1st February 2022.

A tenant is defined in the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 as any person to whom a housing authority has let a house under the Housing Acts 1966 to 2014 or Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000. An application by a spouse to become a joint tenant must be made to the relevant local authority. It is a matter for each local authority, as part of its housing management functions, to determine the conditions in relation to joint tenancies in its administrative area.