Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 9 December 2015
192. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he has analysed the proportion of council homes purchased under previous tenant purchase schemes that have ended up owned by landlords in the private rented sector; and how many of these are rent supplement, housing assistance payment or rental accommodation scheme tenancies. [44274/15]
View answerUnder section 90(12)(a) of the Housing Act 1966, a person who bought a house from a local authority under a tenant purchase scheme must obtain the authority’s consent to re-sell the house within a specified period after tenant purchase (20 years in the case of the 1995 Tenant Purchase Scheme). The enactment empowers the housing authority to refuse to consent to the resale of the house where
- the intended purchaser is not in need of housing,
- the intended purchaser is, or has been, involved in anti-social behaviour, or the intended sale would not be in the interest of good estate management, or
- the sale would leave the seller, or any person who might reasonably be expected to reside with them, without adequate housing.
In relation to the existing scheme for the purchase of certain newly-built local authority houses and also the scheme for existing local authority houses coming into operation on 1 January 2016 , the legislation provides for the consent of the housing authority to re-sell the house within the period of the incremental charge placed on the house . The legislation also empowers the housing authority to refuse its consent where :
- the proposed sale price is less than the market value,
- the new purchaser is or was engaged in anti-social behaviour or the sale is not in the interest of good estate management, or
- the sale would leave the vendor or a household member without adequate housing.
It is a matter for individual housing authorities to deal with applications for consent to the re-sale of tenant purchased houses. Information regarding the incidence of such applications or the ownership history of these houses following their subsequent re-sale by the tenant purchaser is not available in my Department.
