Vol. 525 No. 2
684 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if the courts have decided on the case taken by certain local authority tenants in pursuit of a right to purchase apartments or maisonettes under the tenant purchase scheme; and if he plans to introduce such a scheme by establishing a management company to care for common spaces or by any other method for dealing with this issue. [24466/00]
I understand following a decision of the courts, Cork Corporation has completed the sale of a number of apartments which were included in the 1989 tenant purchase scheme which allowed for the sale of such dwellings. I have asked the corporation for a report on the management and maintenance arrangements which govern these sales and for an update on their operation to date. In a further case the corporation is appealing to the High Court a decision of the Circuit Court. I also understand the outcome of court actions initiated by other tenants of Cork Corporation and of certain tenants of Dublin and Limerick corporations in relation to the purchase of their local authority apartments is awaited.
A detailed examination of the sale of apartments under the tenant purchase scheme, undertaken in conjunction with local authorities, concluded that no practical arrangements for the sale could be made that would be satisfactory to purchasers, local authorities or other tenants of the apartments who did not wish to purchase. The sale of local authority apartments to tenant purchasers carries a real and unacceptable degree of risk that the purchasers would end up with a property on which they are paying unaffordable service charges and which they have no prospect of selling at a realistic price. To encourage sales under these circumstances would be a grave disservice to tenant purchasers. Having said that, local authorities will facilitate tenants of apartments, where possible, to transfer to a local authority house, so that they can have the opportunity to purchase that house under the tenant purchase scheme.
In regard to the sale of maisonettes, local authorities have been advised, under the terms of the current scheme, which took effect on 1 May 1995, that they should consider their sale, particularly those which do not have common areas, where satisfactory arrangements can be devised which do not involve the difficulties that arise in the case of flats.
While I have no plans to introduce a new scheme, I would be prepared to consider favourably any proposals from local authorities, where the authorities are satisfied that apartments could be sold to tenants on terms which would address, to the satisfaction of both the tenants and the authorities, the management and maintenance issues involved.
