Housing (Sale of Houses To Long-Standing Tenants) Regulations, 2011

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 82/2011

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 1st March, 2011.

I, MICHAEL FINNERAN, Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by sections 5 and 90 (7) of the Housing Act, 1966 (No. 21 of 1966) (as adapted by the Environment and Local Government (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order 2003 ( S.I. No. 233 of 2003 )) and the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order 2011 ( S.I. No. 65 of 2011 ), hereby make the following regulations:

Citation

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Housing (Sale of Houses to Long-standing Tenants) Regulations 2011.

Interpretation

2. In these Regulations—

“anti-social behaviour” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1997 (No. 21 of 1997);

“civil partner” has the meaning assigned to it by section 3 of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 (No. 24 of 2010);

“estate management” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1997 ;

“market value” means the amount which, in the opinion of the housing authority that owns it, a dwelling, if sold on the open market in its existing state of repair and condition and not subject to the special conditions referred to in Regulation 11, might reasonably be expected to realise, reduced,

(a) where improvements have been carried out to the dwelling other than by or on behalf of the authority, by the portion (if any) of such amount that, in the opinion of the authority, is attributable to such improvements, and

(b) where the site of the dwelling was provided to the authority for a nominal sum, by the excess (if any) of the market value of the site over such sum;

“purchaser” includes, in relevant cases, joint purchasers;

“tenant” includes, in relevant cases, joint tenants;

“the Minister” means the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government; and

“ section 90 ” means section 90 of the Housing Act, 1966 ,.

Application of Regulations

3. (1) These Regulations apply to the sale by a housing authority under section 90 of a dwelling (hereinafter referred to as “the dwelling”) of the class specified in paragraph (2) to the tenant in accordance with a purchase scheme adopted by the authority for the purposes of these Regulations (hereinafter referred to as a “2011 purchase scheme for long-standing tenants”.

(2) The class of dwelling referred to in paragraph (1) comprises dwellings let to tenants with reckonable tenancy in excess of 10 years, determined in accordance with Regulation 6.

Period for receipt of purchase applications

4. The period within which a housing authority shall receive an application by a tenant to purchase a dwelling under a 2011 purchase scheme for long-standing tenants shall end on 31 December 2011.

Duration of purchase scheme

5. A 2011 purchase scheme for long-standing tenants shall apply for the period ending on 31 December 2012.

Reckonable period of tenancy

6. (1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), the reckonable period of tenancy shall be the aggregate, on the earlier of the date of the completion of the sale or 31 December 2011, of the following periods to such extent as they are not contemporaneous:

(a) the period of the tenancy of the purchaser or his or her spouse or civil partner of the dwelling and of any other dwelling let by and not purchased from a housing authority,

(b) the period (if any) during which the purchaser or his or her spouse or civil partner occupied the dwelling as a purchaser under the terms of a previous sale of the dwelling by the housing authority, and

(c) where the purchaser or his or her spouse or civil partner—

(i) was, for a period of at least one year immediately preceding his or her appointment as tenant of any dwelling by a housing authority, bona fide resident in such dwelling as a member of the household of the preceding tenant, and

(ii) succeeded to the tenancy of such dwelling,

the period that would be reckonable in respect of such preceding tenant by virtue of this paragraph if such tenant were purchasing the particular dwelling to which the purchaser succeeded him or her as tenant.

(2) In the case where joint tenants have applied to purchase a dwelling, the longest period of a joint tenant in each category referred to in paragraph (1) shall be included in the reckonable period of tenancy for the purposes of this Regulation.

(3) The reckonable period of tenancy determined in accordance with paragraphs (1) and (2) shall be rounded up to the next number of complete years where such rounding up would not result in the addition of more than 6 months to such period.

Purchase money for dwelling

7. The purchase money for the dwelling shall be its market value reduced by the amount of the discount under Regulation 8 (hereinafter referred to as “the discount”) and the amount of the allowance, if any, under Regulation 9.

Discount

8. The discount shall be an amount equal to 3 per cent of the market value in respect of each year of the reckonable period of tenancy determined by the housing authority in accordance with Regulation 6, subject to a maximum of 45...