asked the Minister for the Environment whether tenants or tenant-purchasers availing of the £5,000 grant scheme to relinquish their houses are also entitled to house improvement grants to improve their new homes; and if they are entitled to local loans fund loans for repairs.
Written Answers. - Housing Grants.
514.
The conditions applicable to the £5,000 grant scheme require that the house being purchased with the aid of the grant should be of suitable size and standard to cater for the applicant's household, should be free from serious structural defects and should be fully serviced. Additional grant assistance to enable an applicant to meet these requirements would not, therefore, be appropriate but an applicant would be able to qualify — subject to the usual conditions — for improvement grants for the provision of a bathroom or a chimney and fireplace in a house which did not have these facilities. Provided they are otherwise eligible, persons getting the £5,000 grant may qualify for a loan from the local authority to carry out improvements to the house they purchase.