Thomas Gould
Question:381. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if approved housing bodies are required to retain local authority tenants under the mortgage to rent scheme for life. [8314/22]
View answerTuesday, 15 February 2022
Questions (381)
Written answers
The Mortgage to Rent (MTR) scheme was introduced in 2012 for borrowers of commercial lending institutions and is targeted at those households in mortgage arrears who have had their mortgage position deemed unsustainable by their lender under the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP), who agree to the voluntary surrender of their home and who have very limited options, if any, to meet their long-term housing needs themselves. In addition, the household must be deemed eligible for social housing support. The borrower surrenders their property to their lender who sells it to a MTR provider which can be either an Approved Housing Body (AHB) or since 2018 a private company, Home for Life Ltd. The AHB or local authority (in the case where the property is sold to a private company) becomes the landlord and the borrower remains in the property as a tenant paying a differential rent to the landlord based on his or her income.
When the borrower becomes a tenant of an Approved Housing Body (AHB), they sign a tenancy agreement. The current arrangement on the property can be for up to 30 years.
Regardless of who the property owner is under the MTR scheme, AHB or Home for Life Ltd., the local authority is obliged to meet the housing needs of social housing tenants indefinitely and beyond the term of the applicable lease arrangement. Therefore, if appropriate, the tenant may continue to have their housing needs met by the AHB, beyond the term of the lease agreement or alternative housing will be secured for them by the local authority.