Housing (Sale of Local Authority Houses) Regulations 2015.
Statutory Instruments
Source: Statutory Instruments

num: 1
paragraphs: These Regulations may be cited as the Housing (Sale of Local Authority Houses) Regulations 2015.
num: 2
paragraphs: These Regulations come into operation on 1 January 2016.
num: 3
paragraphs: In these Regulations—
num: 4
paragraphs: A housing authority shall not sell under Part 3 a house that—
(a) has been specifically designed for occupation by one or more than one elderly person,
(b) has been provided to facilitate the transition from institutional care to community-based living of persons with an enduring physical, sensory, mental health or intellectual impairment,
(c) has been specifically designed for occupation by travellers, where more than one such house or dwelling is provided on the land concerned,
(d) is a caravan, mobile home or a structure or a thing (whether on wheels or not) that is capable of being moved from one place to another (whether by towing, transport on a vehicle or trailer, or otherwise),
(e) has been transferred to a planning authority in accordance with an agreement under section 96 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (No. 30 of 2000), including a house provided on land or on a site so transferred, where the transfer is made for the purpose of providing housing referred to in section 94(4)(a)(i) of the said Act and the house is on the land the subject of the planning application to which the agreement relates,
(f) in the opinion of the authority, should not be sold for reasons of proper management of the authority’s stock of housing accommodation or on account of the house’s structural condition, or
(g) should not be sold for the time being on account of proposals the authority has to carry out reconstruction or improvement works under section 12 of the Housing Act 1988 or for the regeneration of the area in which the house is located.
num: 5
paragraphs: (1) Subject to paragraph (2), the minimum period for which a tenant is required to have been in receipt of social housing support for the purposes of making an application to purchase a house under Part 3 is one year on the date of the making of such application.
(2) Where a tenant referred to in paragraph (1) is a joint tenant, one of the tenants shall fulfil the requirement in paragraph (1).
num: 6
paragraphs: The minimum amount of annual income, determined in accordance with section 24 of the Act of 2014, that a tenant is required to have in order to apply to purchase a house under Part 3 is €15,000.
num: 7
paragraphs: At the time of applying to purchase a house under Part 3, a tenant shall provide the following information to the housing authority:
(a) the intended source of funding for the purchase money in respect of the house;
(b) information sought by the authority to enable it to comply with section 24 of the Act of 2014 and any direction issued under that enactment;
(c)(i) convictions in the 5-year period prior to the date of application for offences by any household member under sections 5, 6, 7, 14, 15 or 19 of the Criminal Justice (Public Order) Act 1994 (No. 2 of 1994), and
(ii) court orders made in the 5-year period prior to the date of application in respect of household members under—
(I) sections 3, 3A or 4 of the Act of 1997,
(II) section 257D of the Children Act 2001 (No. 24 of 2001), or
(III) section 115 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006 (No. 26 of 2006);
(d) any other information, including updated information, that the housing authority reasonably requires for the purposes of the purchase application or the exercise of the authority’s functions under section 14 of the Act of 1997 or section 23 of the Act of 2014.
num: 8
paragraphs: A tenant applying to purchase a house under Part 3 shall, within 4 weeks of being requested to do so by the housing authority concerned, provide to that authority such additional information, including documents and other particulars, as the authority may reasonably require for the purpose of verifying information provided by the tenant in connection with an application to purchase.
num: 9
paragraphs: An application form for purchase of a house under Part 3 shall include the following statement:
“Section 32(7) of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and section 6 of the Fines Act 2010 provide that it is an offence, punishable on conviction by a class C fine (i.e. an amount not greater than €2,500 but greater than €1,000), for a person to knowingly provide false or misleading information or documents or to knowingly conceal any material fact in relation to the purchase of a house under Part 3 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 . Section 32(8) of the 2009 Act provides that a housing authority may recover from a person convicted of an offence under section 32(7) any higher expenditure that the authority incurred on the sale of a house due to reliance on false, misleading or undisclosed information.”
num: 10
paragraphs: The purchase price for a house shall be determined as the greater of—
(a) the relevant market value of the house, or
(b)50 per cent of the estimated cost to the housing authority of providing, on the same site as the house being purchased and in accordance with prevailing national building standards and design policies for local authority housing, a house designed to accommodate a household in the same class that the house being purchased was designed for, and such estimated cost shall include, among other matters, the cost of site acquisition, legal and other professional fees.
num: 11
paragraphs: Where a tenant’s annual income is less than or equal to €20,000, the purchase money for the house shall be determined by the housing authority as the monetary value of 40 per cent of the purchase price for the house and the charged period shall be 30 years from the vesting date.
num: 12
paragraphs: Where a tenant’s annual income is in the range of €20,001 to €29,999, the purchase money for the house shall be determined by the housing authority as the monetary value of 50 per cent of the purchase price for the house and the charged period shall be 25 years from the vesting date.
num: 13
paragraphs: Where a tenant’s annual income is equal to or in excess of €30,000, the purchase money for the house shall be determined by the housing authority as the monetary value of 60 per cent of the purchase price for the house and the charged period shall be 20 years from the vesting date.
num: 14
paragraphs: (1) The purchase money for the house shall be paid to the housing authority in full in advance of the completion of the sale.
(2) Where any portion of the purchase money is being financed by way of a loan by a housing authority to the purchaser under section 11 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992 (No. 18 of 1992), then "paid" in paragraph (1) means the completion by the purchaser of a mortgage contract in respect of such loan.
num: 15
paragraphs: (1) The transfer order and charging order for the sale of a house under Part 3 shall be in the combined form set out in Schedule 1.
(2) A housing authority shall, on making an order referred to in paragraph (1), give a copy of the order to the purchaser.
num: 16
paragraphs: A person who—
(a) is denoted in the Property Services Register as having a licence in force to provide property services relating to the purchase or sale of land, and
(b) has knowledge of and experience in the valuation of houses and land in the area concerned,
num: 17
paragraphs: Statements given under sections 26(4) and 27(2)(b) of the Act of 2014 shall be in the appropriate form set out in Parts 1 and 2, respectively, of Schedule 2.
num: 18
paragraphs: The Housing (Local Authority Loans) Regulations 2012 ( S.I. No. 408 of 2012 ) are amended in Regulation 3 by inserting the following after paragraph (c):
“(ca) the sale of a house under Part 3 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 (No. 21 of 2014);”.