Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 December 2020
301. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will meet residents of homes built in conjunction with housing associations (details supplied) to discuss their concerns in which the promise of their right to purchase their own homes has been denied to them; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40135/20]
View answer302. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if a ministerial order or regulation to allow approved housing bodies to sell homes to tenants will be introduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40136/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 301 and 302 together.
The Housing (Sale of Local Authority Houses) Regulations 2015, provide the basis for the current Tenant (Incremental) Purchase Scheme, which came into operation on 1 January 2016, which allows local authorities to sell local authority owned dwellings to existing social housing tenants. The Scheme does not extend to houses owned by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs).
Under the terms of the various funding schemes supporting the delivery of social housing by AHBs, AHBs are the legal owners of the properties and must make them available for social renting for the duration of the mortgage or, as the case may be, the availability agreement.
Section 45 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 does provide for the sale by local authorities and AHBs of designated new houses to eligible households, subject to specified terms and conditions set down in the Act and the associated Housing (Incremental Purchase) Regulations 2010 (S.I. 252 of 2010). However, any such sales would have to be progressed by the AHBs in conjunction with the relevant local authority concerned. Neither my Department or myself has any role in the process.
