Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 November 2017
1322. Deputy Noel Grealish asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of persons who applied for the mortgage to rent scheme in 2015, 2016 and to date in 2017; the number of these applications which were approved and proceeded to renting of the property by the applicant from a housing agency; the number of applications which were refused; the reason for refusal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46240/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraSince 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 applications that have been received, the number of completed cases and the number of cases that have been terminated and the reasons for same. 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 .
The reasons why a case may not have progressed are varied and can depend on the lender, the property, the household and the ability of the AHB sector to increase their involvement in the scheme. 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. Key changes include:
- Lenders are now required to formally communicate with borrowers as to why they are not suitable for the scheme;
- The property price threshold for a house in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Louth, Meath and Wicklow has been increased to €365,000 (from €350,000) while the threshold for an apartment / townhouse in these areas has been increased to €310,000 (from €300,000). For the rest of the country, the threshold for a house has been increased to €280,000 (from €250,000) and for an apartment / townhouse to €210,000 (from €190,000);
- Flexibility has been provided in relation to the size of properties which qualify for the scheme. In practical terms, this means that an assessment of the property size suitable to a particular household now allows for a maximum of two additional bedrooms in the property above the actual needs of the household, with the property still being considered eligible;
- The administrative process has been streamlined, including certain steps of the MTR process now being required to be completed prior to the submission of a completed MTR application to the Housing Agency;
- There are a number of actions to improve knowledge and understanding of the scheme. A range of state agencies are being facilitated to assist and guide borrowers who could benefit from the scheme.
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 Approved Housing Bodies 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 Housing Agency will make recommendations to my Department as to the make-up of the pilots, which can then be initiated.
