Question:
599 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the number of purchasers under the tenant purchase scheme in each of the past ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17985/99]
Written Answers. - Tenant Purchase Schemes.
Statistics on tenant purchase scheme sales for the years 1989 to 1998 are published in my Department's Annual Housing Statistics Bulletins, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas Library.
Question:
600 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the reasons a local authority tenant cannot purchase a flat or apartment under a tenant purchase scheme which highlights an inequity between tenants who live in a conventional house as against those who live in another dwelling; the plans, if any, he has to change the regulations in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17986/99]
A detailed examination of the issues that arise in relation to the sale of local authority flats concluded that no practical arrangement could be made which would be satisfactory to tenant purchasers or local authorities or even to other tenants in a flat complex who would not wish to purchase. The three main reasons why local authority flats would be a bad buy for tenants relate to:
–the level of service charges that would be necessary;
–public liability insurance; and
–the future saleability of purchased flats.
These matters were outlined in detail in the 1996 policy document "Social Housing – The Way Ahead", copies of which are available in the Oireachtas Library.
Local authorities were, therefore, advised that flats should not be offered for sale under the current tenant purchase scheme, but that authorities should give consideration to the sale of maisonettes, particularly those which do not have common areas, where satisfactory arrangements, not involving the difficulties that arise in the case of flats, could be devised.
The difficulties and disadvantages for tenants of purchasing local authority flats which have been clearly identified still apply and, consequently, there are no proposals to amend the scheme in this respect.