asked the Minister for the Environment if he will amend the conditions covering the £2,000 new house grant by making the grant available to all new first time home owners, irrespective of the floor area of the house, and if he will withdraw the restrictions relating to the maximum garage size and to the finish of their internal walls, as there is a considerable cost to his Department in having to measure each new house, and the refusal of a grant can cause great hardship to applicants who do not comply with these conditions.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - New House Grant.
19.
It has been the policy of successive Governments that new house grants should be payable only in respect of reasonably sized houses. Accordingly, for many years now — even before the existing new house grant scheme was introduced — floor area limits have applied in the case of grant-aided houses and the current limits are set out in the Housing Regulations, 1980. The limit of 125 square metres, i.e., 1,346 square feet, allows for the construction of a four bedroomed house.
Restrictions on the size and development of garages were imposed to deal with attempts to evade the requirements on the floor area of houses by describing as garages areas which were obviously designed for incorporation within the main accommodation of the house. These restrictions have been in force since 1 January 1986 and I will shortly be reviewing them in the light of experience so far of their operation.
Does the Minister accept that sending engineers from his Department 70 or 80 miles to physically measure every new house in the country now costs a considerable amount of money? Does he also agree that those building houses for the first time should be allowed to build them without a floor area limit? In view of the Department's nit picking in literally enforcing the rules to the letter of the law, does the Minister agree that there is grave hardship on many applicants who perhaps because of a small mistake on their part, are denied a new house grant when the house is completed at a time when they most need it?
There are other reasons for an inspection apart from measuring the house and even if there were no grant size limits it would still be necessary for inspections to be carried out. However, when one considers that the houses in question are built or bought for first time purchasers, 1,346 square feet is a reasonable grant size and some of the difficulties which have arisen are because people built what were described as garages but which, in certain cases, were clearly designed to be converted with the minimum amount of additional work subsequent to the inspection and passing for grant purposes. However, I am aware that the limit has caused difficulties from time to time and, of course, any limit will cause difficulty because somebody will always manage, advertently or inadvertently, to build something which falls outside the limit. The question remains as to whether the House would feel it more equitable that grants should be paid without any limit or whether it was not acceptable that people building a house for first time occupation of perhaps mansion size proportions would still be eligible for grant purposes.
Mr. Fahey
Very few people build houses of mansion size proportions, particularly first time buyers. I accept that inspections must be carried out but it is not neccessary to physically measure a house. The extra cost of this far outweighs the cost of the additional number of grants which will have to be paid if all houses are given the grant which is made to the first time purchaser. Does the Minister not accept that it is reasonable for a person to do preliminary work on a garage such as hardwalling the internal walls or putting in electric points so that when his family is older he can convert the garage into a bedroom or playroom? The Minister's Department, in insisting that that kind of development cannot be done——
A question, please.
Where a young person is approved for a new house grant and where, for instance——
The Deputy should not ignore the Chair.
I am sorry.
I am asking you to put a question.
Does the Minister agree that his Department's efforts to stop people from getting this grant have gone away beyond what would be considered normal practice? I appeal to him to redress this situation because an increasing number of young people are caught at a time when they have spent all their money and it is very difficult for them.
In relation to the question of garages, I have already indicated that I will be reviewing the situation which has obtained since the beginning of the year. There is a case to be made that when a person is having a house constructed, it might be more cost effective to have some minimum work carried out which would facilitate conversion at a later stage. However, it is difficult to decide where the limits should be. For instance, I examined a file yesterday where what was euphemistically described as a garage in a four bedroomed house which also showed a living room, dining room and a substantial kitchen, had two windows included in the side wall, two radiators, electric points, a glazed window at the rear which was obviously for purposes of a bathroom en suite, which would have been a most inappropriate place to house a motor car.
So what? He paid for it.
It brought home to me that the level of construction and the size of houses which first time purchasers are able to build nowadays are vastly superior to and larger than the houses constructed in the past. It is an indication of the level of income available to first time purchasers that they are able to build houses of that size. From that point of view, I will be examining the regulations in regard to garages. However, I do not think there should be an abolition of the new house grants; I do not know whether that would be equitable. If Members of the House have opinions in that regard I will be glad to hear them.