Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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139. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government whether the proposed right-to-buy legislation will include tenant-in-situ purchases. [15899/24]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The General Scheme of the Residential Tenancies (Right to Purchase) Bill was approved by Government on 24 October 2023 to provide for a tenant’s ‘first right of refusal’, where a landlord intends to sell a rented dwelling. The Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage undertook Pre-Legislative Scrutiny (PLS) of the General Scheme in December 2023 and published its report on 19 December 2023.

Priority legal drafting of the Bill is underway, taking account of the PLS report, and publication is expected in Q2 2024. Where a Notice of Termination (NoT) is served on the basis of the landlord’s intention to sell the rented dwelling, the landlord would be obliged to simultaneously invite their tenant to make a bid to purchase the property – i.e. give a notice of invitation to bid to their tenant.

First right of refusal can already be offered to sitting tenants to buy their rented home. It is happening, on a voluntary basis, at present.

The Government is operating two administrative schemes to keep tenants in situ.

The Local Authority Tenant In-Situ (TiS) scheme for tenants who are eligible for social housing support, reside in private rental homes and who are at risk of homelessness because a landlord intends to sell the property.

The Cost Rental Tenant In-Situ (CRTiS) scheme for tenants who are not eligible for social housing support, reside in private rental homes and who are at risk of homelessness because a landlord intends to sell the property. The scheme was established on a temporary administrative basis from 1 April 2023 and is currently managed by the Housing Agency, pending further policy development over the longer term, with the intention of transitioning these homes to the standard Cost Rental model over time and to move it to being an Approved Housing Body led scheme.

The operation of these schemes will be bolstered when the provisions of the Residential Tenancies (Right to Purchase) Bill come into force.