Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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217. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of renters who have claimed the rent tax credit this year, by county, in tabular form. [25912/23]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Rent Tax Credit, as provided for in section 473B of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (TCA 1997), was introduced by Finance Act 2022 and may be claimed in respect of qualifying rent paid in 2022 and subsequent years to end-2025.

Claims in respect of the 2022 year of assessment can be made by PAYE taxpayers by submitting an Income Tax return for that year. For claims relating to 2023, PAYE taxpayers have the option of claiming the rent tax credit due to them either as rent is incurred or at the end of the year through their Income Tax return.

The Rent Tax Credit statistics currently available refer only to claims by PAYE taxpayers for the 2022 tax year and the 2023 tax year to-date. Data on claims by self-assessed taxpayers is not yet available as these taxpayers’ returns are generally submitted later in the year. The statutory filing date for the 2022 tax return for self-assessed taxpayers is 31 October 2023.

Rent Tax Credit claims made are on a ‘taxpayer unit’ basis. A taxpayer unit is either an individual with any personal status who is singly assessed or a couple in a marriage or civil partnership who have elected for joint assessment.

Over 247,158 Rent Tax Credit claims have been made by almost 225,000 taxpayer units up to and including the 23 May 2023, consisting of:

(i) 193,283 taxpayer units that made claims for 2022 only,

(ii) 22,059 taxpayer units that made claims for both 2022 and 2023, and

(iii) 9,611 taxpayer units that made claims for 2023 only.

The number of taxpayer units that have claimed the Rent Tax Credit, by county, is presented below in tabular form.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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218. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will consider 100% mortgages based on a person’s proven track record of rental payments and the usual earning multiplier conditions, similar to the new offering approved in other countries (details supplied). [25929/23]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Central Bank of Ireland, as part of its independent mandate to preserve and protect financial stability in Ireland, has statutory responsibility for the regulation of mortgage lending by banks and other Central Bank regulated mortgage lending institutions operating in Ireland. In line with this mandate it has introduced certain macroprudential measures for residential mortgage lending. These macro-prudential measures apply certain loan-to-value (LTV) and loan-to-income (LTI) restrictions to residential mortgage lending by financial institutions regulated by the Central Bank.

Following a comprehensive review, the Central Bank last October announced a number of targeted changes to the lending measures which came into effect from the start of 2023. For first time buyers (FTBs), the LTI limit was increased to 4 times the borrower’s income and the LTV limit was retained at 90% of the value of the residential property.

For second and subsequent buyers (SSBs) the maximum mortgage limits are 3.5 times the borrower’s income and 90% of the value of the residential property.

However, banks and other regulated lenders have, at their own discretion, a certain flexibility to provide a mortgage loan in excess of the specified regulatory limits and up to 15% of FTB lending can take place above these specified limits.

In addition, the European Union (Consumer Mortgage Credit Agreements) Regulations 2016 require lenders to assess the creditworthiness of the borrower and provide that mortgage credit should only be made available where the result of the creditworthiness assessment indicates that the consumer’s obligations resulting from the credit agreement are likely to be met in the manner required under that agreement.

This assessment generally takes into consideration rental payments being made by mortgage applicants when lenders are making their affordability assessment as part of regular underwriting process to assess borrowers’ ability to repay a mortgage.

Within this general regulatory framework, it is then a commercial matter for individual lenders to decide whether or not to provide a loan in any particular case, or how much credit to provide in any particular case, having regard to their own lending policies and underwriting criteria. Neither the Central Bank nor I have any function or role in such decision-making matters by credit institutions.