LIMERICK City and County Council’s Tenant Purchase Scheme has been condemned for excluding tenants who are dependent on welfare payments as their primary income as well as those who moved from Regeneration areas where they owned their own houses.
The scheme is only available to certain tenants of existing Limerick local authority houses who have a minimum gross annual income of €15,000.
Limerick Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea told the Limerick Post this week that he has been contacted by many people who are very angry over the Tenant Purchase Scheme as they want to buy the local authority house they live in but are precluded from doing so.
“In some cases it is because their only income is from Social Welfare. In other cases people who owned their own houses in Regeneration areas but moved out to council housing elsewhere are also not permitted to purchase the house they are renting,” he explained.
“All this is doing is perpetuating inequality by preventing people ever having the opportunity to own their own home.”
Deputy O’Dea, who is his party’s Social Protection spokesman, says he was also recently contacted by a couple on the State Pension who were refused the opportunity to purchase their own home even though their son was willing to buy the house for them outright with a lump sum.
He maintains the new Tenant Purchase Scheme is set up in a way that makes it deliberately very difficult for many people to purchase a house under the scheme.
“Since it was originally established by Fianna Fáil, the scheme has been responsible for the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the State. We strongly believe that home ownership is good for families and good for communities. Ireland cannot afford a divided society where home ownership is confined to a few while the rest struggle with unstable tenure and rent levels.
“The right to buy under the Tenant Purchase Scheme has been an important tool in extending home ownership to low income households. It has empowered thousands of families across the country and should not be denied to anyone,” he declared.
In response, a Council spokesman explained that the Tenant Incremental Purchase Scheme 2016 is a statutory scheme and the local authority had no discretion in how its terms were implemented.
“The scheme is open to all council tenants provided they meet qualifying criteria.
“We are operating the scheme as directed by government and have no discretion in the qualifying criteria. Appeals for changes should be directed to the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.”
by Alan Jacques
