New Tenant Purchase Scheme For Existing Local Authority Houses

16th November 2015 - A new tenant purchase scheme which comes into effect on January 1^st is a positive development for tenants of local authority houses in Louth. 

I am very pleased with this scheme and the fact that it will come into effect shortly. It will encourage tenants to stay in their homes and help build sustainable communities. Giving local authority tenants the opportunity to become homeowners is an issue I have raised on a number of occasions, so I am glad to see it come to fruition and I am confident it will make a difference.

I now would encourage tenants in our local area to consider whether they wish, and can afford, to avail of this opportunity to buy their homes from the local council. 

Introducing the new scheme on 1 January 2016 will allow time for local councils to become familiar with the scheme and interested tenants to make the necessary preparations to apply to purchase.

This scheme is important because it will provide opportunities for local authority tenants to become homeowners, as a means of promoting sustainable communities, while generating additional funding from sale proceeds for local authorities to invest in a range of social housing supports. It will also lower maintenance costs for local authorities and allow them to focus more on delivering new social housing units.

The scheme involves a discount for a purchaser of 60%, 50% or 40% off the purchase price of the house and an incremental charge on the house equivalent to the discount. 

This charge reduces to nil over a period of years in annual increments of 2% of the total value of the house, unless the tenant purchaser resells the house or fails to comply with sale conditions during the charged period. In the event of a resale within the charged period, the tenant purchaser will be required to pay to the local authority the outstanding incremental charge on the house from any resale profits.