Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 19 November 2009
156 Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the terms and conditions governing home choice loan, shared ownership schemes, equity loans and standard mortgages from the local authorities; and the mortgages charge, the mortgages protection charge, the rental charge per €100,000 capital value of the house and the percentage variable or fixed rates on which they are based. [42501/09]
View answerI have arranged for details of the eligibility criteria for the Home Choice Loan Scheme, Affordable Housing, Shared Ownership and Local Authority house purchase loans to be sent directly to the Deputy. It should be noted that while provision was made in the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 for the replacement of existing affordable housing schemes with a single, equity based Affordable Dwelling Purchase Scheme, this has not yet been commenced.
Under the local authority mortgage protection scheme, an annual premium of 0.56% applies to the capital outstanding. This scheme was recently enhanced to provide cover for the rental portion of shared ownership. This is charged at an annual premium of 0 .334% of the capital outstanding.
Under the shared ownership scheme houses are acquired by a local authority and leased to the shared owner, who purchases at least 40% of the value of the house and rents the remaining equity from the local authority. The shared owner must purchase full ownership outright within 30 years. For transactions commenced on or after 1 January 2003, the annual rent is calculated at 4.3% of the value of the local authority equity and, thereafter, is increased by a fixed 4.5% on 1 July each year. For transactions entered into between 1 May 1998 up to 31 December 2002, rent is calculated at 4½% (5% before 1 May 1998) of the value of the local authority share updated on 1 July each year by reference to the most recently published CPI.
Home Choice loans are available at a standard variable rate only. This is currently 3.35%. Local authority house purchase loans are available at either variable or five year fixed rates. The current variable rate is 2.25% while the five year fixed rate is 4.4%.
In terms of other fees, the administration and processing of applications under the various affordable housing schemes is a matter for individual local authorities, and one in which my Department has no direct function. Accordingly, my Department does not have detailed information on the range of fees applied by individual authorities in providing access to prospective purchasers of affordable housing.
158 Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of new social housing units constructed; the number of new rental accommodation scheme tenancies entered into in each of the past four quarters for which data is available in each of the Dublin local authorities. [42503/09]
View answerInformation in relation to activity under the range of housing programmes, including construction, for 2008 and Quarter 1 of 2009 is set out in my Department's annual and quarterly Housing Statistics Bulletins, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas library and on my Department's website, www.environ.ie. Information in relation to Quarter 2 of 2009 will be published shortly in the 2009 Quarter 2 Housing Statistics Bulletin.
Information in relation to the number of households accommodated under the Rental Accommodation Scheme in the past 4 quarters is set out in the following table.
Number of households transferred to the Rental Accommodation Scheme during the past four quarters:
|
Oct-Dec 2008 |
Jan-Mar 2009 |
Apr-Jun 2009 |
Jul-Sept 2009 |
Total |
|
|
Dublin City |
134 |
88 |
98 |
119 |
439 |
|
Dun Laoghaire/ Rathdown |
22 |
8 |
26 |
25 |
81 |
|
Fingal |
42 |
14 |
38 |
22 |
116 |
|
South Dublin |
73 |
93 |
77 |
72 |
315 |
|
Total |
271 |
203 |
239 |
238 |
951 |
In addition to the above households being transferred to RAS accommodation, a further 757 rent supplement households have been accommodated by the local authorities in other social housing accommodation. This information is set in the following table.
Number of new rent supplement transfers to other social housing options during the Quarters shown as follows:
|
Oct-Dec 2008 |
Jan-Mar 2009 |
Apr-Jun 2009 |
Jul-Sept 2009 |
Total |
|
|
Dublin City |
70 |
53 |
48 |
38 |
209 |
|
Dun Laoghaire/ Rathdown |
14 |
26 |
70 |
50 |
160 |
|
Fingal |
17 |
10 |
49 |
43 |
119 |
|
South Dublin |
89 |
26 |
60 |
94 |
269 |
|
Total |
190 |
115 |
227 |
225 |
757 |
