Statutory Fit for Habitaton The Housing Act 1966 provided as follows prior to 1992 amendment. Conditions to be complied with on letting of house for habitation. 114.—(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, in any contract entered into after the commencement of this section for letting for habitation a house at a rent not exceeding one hundred and thirty pounds per annum there shall, […]
Protection of Property Traditionally Constitutions and human rights documents protect political and property rights. The European Union and the European Court of Human Rights has come to recognise socio-economic rights. Arguments in favour of socio-economic enforceable against the State are countered by the argument that, judges are not in the best position to make socio-economic policies. Where there are limitations on resources, choice and allocation […]
Irish Constitution and Housing. There is no express right to housing under Irish Constitutional law. The importance of a dwellinghouse is implicitly recognised in the Constitution. Article 40.5 protects the inviolability of the dwelling house as a place of repose and refuge from the World. These principles have been used in the context of challenges to local authority summary powers to obtain possession without sufficient […]
Affordable Housing Scheme Affordable houses are available to first-time buyers, to persons who have divorced or undergone personal insolvency. The scheme assists eligible applicants in purchasing a house at a reduced rate. The Housing Authority may acquire build, cause to be built or otherwise provide dwellings for that purpose. The Housing Authority may enter into arrangements with approved bodies. It may enter public-private partnership arrangements. […]
Emergency Assistance Housing Authorities may provide emergency housing assistance . It may make arrangements including financial arrangements with a body approved by the Minister for the provision of accommodation for homeless persons. It may provide a homeless person with such assistance including financial assistance as the authority considers appropriate. It may rent accommodation, arranged lodgings, contribute to the cost of accommodation and lodgings for a […]
Local Government (Sanitary Services) Act 1948 An act to amend and extend the Public Health Acts, 1878 to 1931. [14th January, 1948.] Part I Preliminary And General 1. Short title, construction and collective citation. (1) This Act may be cited as the Local Government (Sanitary Services) Act, 1948. (2) This Act shall be construed as one with the Public Health Acts, 1878 to 1931. (3) […]
Housing Finance Agency The Housing Finance Agency is a state organisation that was designed to tap financial markets in order to advance funds to local authorities for the purpose of loans under the Housing Act. The agency advances loans to local authorities for their housing functions and also lends to individual housing bodies and voluntary organizations. The HFA may transfer the benefit of the loans […]
Grants & Subsidies Grants and subsidies may be provided by a housing authority for various purposes. This includes the provision of a new house assisting in mortgage payments payments to finance the acquisition and construction of a new house adaptation grants for elderly and disabled persons rent of houses in the shared ownership scheme.
Harrassment & Intimidation The Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1997 contained provisions to prevent harassment and intimidation. An application may be made to the District Court for an order against a tenant engaging in antisocial behaviour. This includes the manufacture, preparation, importation and supply of drugs. A fellow tenant or the local authority may apply to court. The Housing Authority may apply where having consulted with […]
Waiting List & Allocation A person who is accepted as eligible for social housing and in need of housing is placed on a waiting list. This is the record of qualified households. The housing authority will notify other housing authorities whose functional area the applicant has specified as an area of choice. The applicant may specify up to three areas in which he would choose […]
Housing Promotion The purpose of the 2015 Act was to provide legislative underpinning to certain measures of the Government housing package entitled “Stabilising Rents, Increasing Supply” which encompasses a range of measures to improve the operation of the private rental sector, to help tackle on-going issues in relation to the increasing numbers presenting as homeless and to support increased housing supply. The Act seeks to […]
Strategic Housing Developments The “specified period”, which is defined to mean the period until 31 December 2019 and any additional period that the Minister may provide by order A “strategic housing development”, which is defined to mean, subject to specified limitations on the extent of other uses— the development of 100 or more houses on land zoned for residential use or for a mixture of residential and other uses, the […]
Large Scale Residential The 2021 Act implemented the Programme for Government commitment to not further extending the Strategic Housing Development (SHD) arrangements beyond their expiry date of 25 February 2022. The Act also gives effect to action 12.3 of Housing for All which commits to the introduction of a new planning process for Large-scale Residential Developments (LRDs) to replace the SHD process. A ‘large-scale residential […]
Housing Strategies As set out in other sections, local authorities must prepare a housing strategy for their area. Its policies and objectives must be incorporated in the development plan. The housing strategy incorporates the social and affordable housing provisions in the Planning and Development Act 2000 as amended. Planning authorities are obliged to estimate present and future housing demand within their area and to ensure […]
Short Term Lets An Bord Pleanala decided in a number of applications that the use on a continuous basis of a residential apartment for short term lets constituted a material change of use. The Department of Housing Planning and Local Government issued a number of Circulars emphasising that such use requires planning permission. The use of a house or part of the house in a […]
Adopting a Road A road may be declared a public road. A right-of-way must exist for the benefit of the public. The local authority must consider the public utility in adopting and declaring the road in charge. It must consider the financial implications of so doing. The authority publishes notice of the proposal in a newspaper giving certain details. The maps must be made available […]
Overview Rent supplement was paid to persons in private rented property who cannot meet the rental costs from their income and resources. Rent supplement is geared in such a way to ensure that income does not fall below an absolute minimum. It is effectively the basic social welfare rate less a notional rental allowance. The accommodation must be suitable for the needs of the applicant. […]
Housing Authorities. Housing authorities may provide housing services to meet the accommodation needs of persons and households who qualify. This may include social housing support affordable housing loans to assist purchase grant to persons providing new housing grants for improvement and adaptation services to homeless persons halting sites non-financial assistance; management maintenance and refurbishment of dwellings Although the housing authority has obligations, they are not […]
Cost Rental dwellings The owner of a dwelling may apply to the Minister to designate it as a cost rental dwelling. The Minister has the power to prescribe the format of such an application, including the allowable costs to be used when calculating the cost-covering rent. The application process includes two distinct periods: the ‘cost calculation period’ of at least 30 years, which is the […]
Redemption and realisation of equity The affordable dwelling equity is: redeemed by the homeowner by making redemption payments or repaid out of the proceeds of a sale by the homeowner, or realised by the housing authority. These are the different means by which an affordable dwelling purchase arrangement is brought to an end. Redemption payments The homeowner may, at any time after the making of […]
Overview The purpose of the Affordable Housing Act is to provide the legislative and policy framework for a number of schemes aimed at making housing for purchase and rent more affordable for eligible households. These include the provision of affordable purchase housing by Local Authorities and the Land Development Agency, the introduction of a new Affordable Purchase Shared Equity scheme for the delivery of homes […]
Services to local authorities The Land Development Agency can provide services to local authorities, located in the area of a town the population of which is equal to or greater than 30,000, in relation to land owned by the local authority to assist the local authority in the performance of its functions. There is a he process by which a local authority can request the […]
Legislative Establishment The purpose of the Land Development Agency Act 2021 is to give legislative underpinning to the Land Development Agency (LDA), previously established under Establishment Order, S.I. 352 of 2018, as amended by S.I. 603 of 2018. The Agency is to develop and regenerate relevant public land for the delivery of housing. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Minister for Public […]
Overview The Act provides for the regulation of Approved Housing Bodies and includes Chapters on the registration procedures for Approved Housing Bodies and their entry onto the register, as well as the drafting and approval of standards. The Act provides for existing AHBs approved under section 6 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992 to be deemed registered initially and to then apply to be […]
General The Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Act 2019 provides for the regulation of Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) for the purposes of supporting stronger governance and the financial viability of that sector, with a particular focus on safeguarding the significant public investment being made in the delivery of social housing by Approved Housing Bodies. The Act provides for the establishment of the independent Approved […]
Establishment The Home Building Finance Ireland Act 2018 Act facilitates funding of HBFI from resources currently held by the Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), the granting of the necessary power to the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) to provide staff and services to HBFI on a cost recoverable basis, the granting of specific powers to HBFI to enable it to carry on the business of […]
Homelessness Action Plan Housing authorities must adopt a homelessness action plan. It must set out measures to deal with and reduced homelessness, provide services to persons to address the needs of homeless households, provide assistance to persons formerly homeless and promote active coordination and activities for the purpose of addressing homelessness. The measures must be taken in conjunction with other agencies, including housing bodies and […]
2014 Act The Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 extended a scheme of tenant purchase for existing local authority houses along the lines of the incremental purchase scheme applicable to new local authority houses and existing local authority apartments under the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009. Part 3 of the 2014 Act provides for a scheme of tenant purchase of existing local authority houses. The tenant […]
Overview The 2014 Act introduced a new scheme for housing assistance payments (HAP). It covers rent payable by households who qualify for social housing support, for private rented accommodation. The household sources the accommodation itself. Households who qualify for social housing support and are long-term recipients of rent supplements from the Department of Social Protection transferred to the new housing assistance payments scheme. Housing Assistance Payment […]
Recovery of Let Houses Housing authorities have special powers to recover possession of houses provided by them. They may make an application to the District Court for a warrant of recovery of possession where there is one-month arrears and where the dwelling house has been abandoned or is unoccupied. The court has no discretion in relation to the issue of a warrant for possession once […]
Eligibility Local authorities are the principal providers of social housing. They are housing authorities under the housing legislation. Local authority housing is allocated in accordance with eligibility. Local authority rents are based on income. In addition, housing associations and housing cooperative provide social housing for letting. There are now national social housing regulations 2011 which prescribe the mechanism for dealing with social housing assessments by […]
1995 Scheme There have been various tenant purchase schemes whereby the vast majority of housing by local authority has been sold. The 1995 tenant purchase scheme was closed to new applicants on 31st December 2012. The scheme included all houses except certain ones provided for and occupied by older persons. It is proposed to replace the scheme. Under the 1995 scheme, it was necessary to […]
Affordable and Shared Ownership A number of affordable housing and shared ownership schemes were developed in the late 1980s and ’90s. Under the schemes, the owners acquired a long lease, but at a rent at a certain portion, usually meeting 50 per cent of the market rent. In this sense, the ownership was shared, and the notional share owed by the State was realised. […]
Mortgage Interest Supplement (Closed) Mortgage interest supplement was a short-term support for persons in payment of mortgage interest repayments. Mortgage interest supplement applied to interest on mortgage repayments less mortgage interest relief. The scheme applied only to the interest part of the payment. It did not cover capital or payment of life/mortgage protection policies, etc. After June 2012, the applicants must show that they have […]
Decontrolled Property Rent Allowance Rent allowance is paid to tenants of properties decontrolled by the Housing (Private Rented Dwellings) Acts 1982. In order to qualify, the person must have been a tenant on that day, subject to rent control. They must be entitled to remain as tenants. The rent must be fixed by the District Court or Rent Tribunal. The landlord must register the tenancy. […]
Incremental Purchase Scheme The 2009 legislation provided for an incremental purchase scheme. Under the scheme, the title to the house is transferred to the occupiers, with the housing authority retaining part of the unpurchased equity. The objective is that this should decline over time. The local authorities have the first option to purchase the property upon sale, as to the part of its value not […]
Overcrowded Houses A house is deemed overcrowded at any time when the number of persons ordinarily sleeping in it and the number of rooms in it are such that any two of those persons over 10, not of the same sex, must sleep in the same room or are such that the free air used in a room or sleeping apartment for a person has […]