JUST a year after the relaunch of the ‘Mortgage to Rent’ scheme, it has shown that it is not fit for purpose and is in need of another major overhaul.
That’s the opinion of Fianna Fáil Enterprise spokesperson Niall Collins following confirmation that just 162 cases involving the approved housing bodies have been fully concluded under the scheme since its inception in July 2012.
The data also shows that in some counties no transactions have yet been approved.
“In theory, the ‘Mortgage to Rent’ scheme exists to provide a safety net for families who are set to lose their home because of mortgage arrears,” Deputy Collins explained.
“Under the scheme, the family will lose the ownership of the home but will continue to live in it. Instead of paying a mortgage, the family will pay a rent to an approved housing body, such as a voluntary housing association,” he added.
It was originally envisaged that the scheme would facilitate approximately 500 cases a year with a total of 3,500 over seven years.
However, figures supplied to Fianna Fáil in the Dáil show that just 162 Mortgage to Rent transactions have been approved nationwide since its inception in July 2012, representing less than four approvals a month.
“Against the backdrop of 38,000 family home mortgages in arrears of two years or so, this is a truly abysmal performance by the scheme. With thousands of repossession proceedings in the system, it is deeply concerning that this scheme is failing miserably to provide a safety net for people in arrears who are facing the prospect of losing their home.
“The Government needs to urgently review the scheme, remove the unnecessary bureaucracy and complexity inherent in it, and make it workable. I have been trying to work through the scheme on behalf of a number of families in mortgage distress and I have to say I have found it to be a bureaucratic nightmare,” Deputy Collins concluded.
by Alan Jacques
alan@limerickpost.ie
