Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 December 2017
730. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of mortgage-to-rent transactions that have been fully completed to date by lender, local authority and approved housing body; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53768/17]
View answer731. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of mortgage-to-rent applications each month in 2017 up to when the scheme was revised; the number of applications each month since the scheme was revised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53769/17]
View answer732. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of approved housing bodies here; the number that have undertaken a mortgage-to-rent scheme; the number of mortgage-to-rent transactions undertaken by each approved housing body; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53770/17]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 730 to 732, inclusive, together.
Since the introduction of the Mortgage to Rent (MTR) Scheme in 2012, a total of 3,765 cases have been submitted under the scheme to the end of September 2017. Of the 3,765 cases submitted, 2,909 were ineligible or terminated during the process. Of the remaining cases submitted, 282 have been completed, and the remaining 574 are actively being progressed.
The Housing Agency publishes, on a quarterly basis, detailed statistical information on the operation of the MTR scheme, including the number of completed transactions by lender, local authority area and Approved Housing Body (AHB). There are currently 7 AHBs participating in the MTR scheme. This information is available on the Agency's website at the following link:
https://www.housingagency.ie/our-services/housing-supply-services/mortgage-to-rent.aspx.
Following a Review of the Mortgage to Rent (MTR) Scheme, published on 8 February 2017, a range of amendments to the eligibility criteria and administration of the MTR scheme came into effect to enable more properties to qualify and to make the scheme more flexible and accessible to borrowers. The Review, available at the following link: http://rebuildingireland.ie/news/changes-in-mortgage-to-rent-scheme/ , explored the impediments to participation in the scheme and recommended a number of actions to make the scheme work better for borrowers.
The table below gives a breakdown of MTR applications received each month during the period 1 January to 30 November 2017. The changes to the MTR eligibility criteria and other process changes came into effect on 27 March 2017 and therefore applications received from April onwards should be regarded as applications submitted under the revised MTR scheme. One of the changes to the MTR process is that the borrower must be approved by their local authority for social housing support prior to the submission of a completed MTR application to the Housing Agency. This process change may have impacted the number of MTR applications received by the Housing Agency in the initial months subsequent to the implementation of the process changes arising from the review recommendations.
|
2017 |
Number of MTR applications received |
|
January |
47 |
|
February |
14 |
|
March |
36 |
|
April |
4 |
|
May |
3 |
|
June |
15 |
|
July |
31 |
|
August |
15 |
|
September |
25 |
|
October |
29 |
|
November |
32 |
|
Total |
251 |
My Department and the Housing Agency are working with all stakeholders to ensure that the actions set out in the Review are being effectively implemented to benefit a greater number of households. I am providing an additional €5m for the MTR scheme in 2018, which will support at least 250 additional MTR cases to be completed by AHBs working together with lenders using the existing MTR scheme.
The MTR Review also concluded that the current financial model of the MTR scheme may not, in its current configuration, be capable of delivering the scale of successful cases that could benefit from the scheme over time. In order to test the operability of alternative funding models for the scheme, the Housing Agency has been working with a number of financial entities who have expressed an interest in working with the MTR scheme to progress a number of alternative long-term lease arrangements. In advance of these pilots and to establish the operability of an alternative financing approach, a targeted market testing exercise has been undertaken by the National Development Finance Agency (NDFA), to test the suitability of the proposed enhanced leasing arrangements to ascertain if they would be viable for a MTR cohort, taking account of the necessity to provide a long-term stable solution for eligible households.
The responses to the market testing exercise have been reviewed by the Housing Agency and my Department. A call for Expressions of Interest from bodies interested in pursuing pilot operating models was initiated by the Housing Agency on 26 October 2017. Once the Expressions of Interest process is concluded - the extended deadline for receipt of submissions is 31 January 2018 - the Housing Agency will make recommendations to my Department as to the make-up of the pilots, which can then be initiated.
