Vol. 507 No. 2
199 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to problems of tenants in receipt of social welfare payments who are seeking to purchase county council houses; the plans, if any, he has to rectify the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16678/99]
The administration of the tenant purchase scheme is a matter for each local authority. Local authorities must assess each application under the scheme on its merits, having regard, for example, to the tenants' ability to meet the repayments and other expenses involved such as insurance and ongoing maintenance.
Local authorities have been advised that no particular category of tenants e.g. those on social welfare payments, should be regarded as being automatically excluded from purchase but that all such applications must be considered on their merits. A shared ownership option is also available to tenants whereby they would be required to make a minimum initial purchase of 50 per cent of the purchase price of the house with an undertaking to acquire the remaining equity within 25 years.
I have no plans to make any amendments to the scheme at this stage.
