Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 April 2024
15. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an update on the cost rental tenant in situ scheme and the Residential Tenancies (Right to Purchase) Bill. [15607/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Minister knows, there have been significant problems with the implementation of the cost rental tenant in situ scheme. There have been very small numbers of applications and even lower numbers of purchases. Of course, there is an ongoing delay with the processing and progress of the Residential Tenancies (Right to Purchase) Bill. Can the Minister give us an update on whether he intends to review and amend the cost rental tenant in situ scheme to fix the very obvious problems? Can he give us an update on what is happening with the right-to-purchase legislation?
I thank the Deputy. We developed the cost rental tenant in situ scheme for tenants in private rental homes who are at risk of homelessness because the landlord intends to sell. This was an add-on to the tenant in situ scheme which I mentioned earlier. There were more than 1,800 purchases last year and we will continue that scheme into this year. We will continue the cost rental tenant in situ scheme into this year. I did not see it as being the main deliverer for many people there, but we are also using the first-home scheme for renters who want to buy the home that they are in. That is working well too.
The cost rental tenant in situ scheme is being operated on an administrative basis at the moment. We will have to legislate for it. We are currently completing the relevant policy work to ensure the transition to the standard cost rental model via the approved housing bodies, AHBs, has the required legal and financial framework in place. I intend to bring forward the necessary amendments to the Affordable Housing Act 2021 in due course to enable that transition. That will not stop any applications to the cost rental tenant in situ scheme. We will continue that on an administrative basis, but it will require amendments to the Affordable Housing Act, which I will bring forward.
The general scheme of the residential tenancies (right to purchase) Bill was approved by the Government on 24 October 2023 to provide the tenant with the right of first refusal where a landlord intends to sell a rented dwelling. The Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, as the Deputy knows, completed pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the Bill in December 2023 and published its report on 19 December. Legal drafting is continuing and I expect to publish the Bill in this quarter.
The number of applications has been tiny and the number of purchases has been in the tens. Not a single one of the tenants affected has been transferred onto an affordable rent. The application process is too cumbersome and people do not know about the scheme. It is another of the Minister's failures. He is now telling us that none of that can change until there is change to the legislation. This scheme opened a year ago and the Minister had not even spoken to the approved housing bodies at the time it opened. It would be much more honest of him to come in and say he announced a scheme that did not exist and which has been beset by problems. Renters at risk of eviction, who could and should be availing of this scheme, have not been able to do so because of the Minister's failures. He should at least have the decently to accept the scheme is a mess and needs serious repair. I have made many suggestions to the Minister at committee as to how to fix the scheme he got so badly wrong in the first place.
I completely and utterly reject what the Deputy has just said. It is a measure and an option that is available. Every tenant in the country has been written to through the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, with the options available. The scheme operates on an administrative basis and nothing will stop with regard to applications. I have already said to the Deputy that it must be underpinned by legislation but that will not stop applications or the operation of the scheme. The cost rental tenant in situ scheme is an option for people who are above the threshold for the social housing waiting list. The tenant in situ scheme is working very well and there were more than 18,010 purchases last year alone. Both schemes will continue into this year.
The Deputy opposes the first-home scheme although most of his colleagues support it and keep asking me parliamentary questions about how we can expand it further for first-time buyers and others. We will continue to work that through this year. The Deputy might explain to his colleagues his opposition to the help-to-buy grant of €30,000 and to the first-home scheme. He might also explain why he is against the vacant homes grant of €70,000.
That is not true, as the Minister knows.
The Deputy can have a chat with his colleagues who are sitting behind him.
The Minister is evading questions as usual. Off you go.
