Real Estate Alliance

Guide to Housing Entitlements

This Guide is intended as a basic introduction to your housing rights in relation and provides an overview of the Shared Ownership Scheme, Affordable Housing, Rent Supplement for Private Tenants, the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) and available assistance for pensioners.

Shared Ownership Scheme:

This Scheme is aimed at people who cannot affod to buy their entire home in on go. It allows you to buy a proportion of your home to begin with (which is a minimum of 40%), increasing that proportion until you own the whole house. Ownership is shared between the buyer and the local authority. You make repayments on a mortgage for the part that you own, and pay rent to your local authority for the other part at an initial rate of 4.3%. The rent is increased annually by 4.5%.

Am I eligible for the Shared Ownership Scheme?

Single Income Household:

A single person is eligible if your gross income (your income before tax) does not exceed €40,000

Two Income Household:

If 2.5 times the main gross income plus the gross income of the other earner is €100,000 or less.

Affordable Housing:

You can buy a house on this scheme if your payments on a suitable house on the open market would be more than 35% of your income. You qualify for the Affordable Housing Scheme if:

• you are registered on a housing waiting list with a local authority, or
• you are a local authority tenant or a tenant purchaser and you want to buy a private house and return your present house to the local authority, or
• you are a tenant for more than one year of a home provided by a housing association under the Capital Loan and Subsidy Scheme and you want to buy a private house and return your present house to the housing association.
• you are in need of housing and your income satisfies the income test:
  - Single: Earn a max of €40,000 (in some cases €58,000)
  - Two-income household: If two and a half times the larger icome plus the smaller income is max €100,000 (in some cases €145,000)

How do I apply find out more about the Affordable Housing Scheme in my area?

• Contact your local authority for exact current requirements and application forms.
• If you sell within 20 years, you will have to pay back a percentage of the sale price to the local authority.

Rent Supplement for Private Tenants:

This provides short-term income support to assist with reasonable accommodation costs of eligible people living in private rented accommodation who are unable to provide for their accommodation costs from their own resources and who do not have accommodation available to them from another source.

Eligibility:

• If, after paying your rent or mortgage interest and house insurance, you are left with less than €184.40 (single), €316 (married) plus €24 for each child;
• You must be renting for at least 6 months unless there are exceptional circumstances (illness, employment, urgent need for housing);
• You must apply to your local authority for re-housing and the supplement will stop if you refuse 3 reasonable offers;
• You are not eligible if you or your spouse is working full time.

Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS):

This scheme is for people who are receiving rent supplement, usually for more than 18 months, and who need long term housing. Under the RAS your local authority will find you suitable accommodation and will pay rent to the landlord directly. You will still contribute to the rent but you will pay it to the local authority, not your landlord. Over time your contribution may be based on your local authority's differential rent scheme. If you are offered accommodation under the RAS scheme, you can refuse it. However, if you refuse 3 offers of housing within a set period, you will not be entitled to rent supplement for a period of 12 months.

Eligibility:

You will qualify for the scheme if you receive a rent supplement under the supplementary Welfare Allowance Scheme and you are assessed by your local authority to have long-term housing needs. People with short term needs continue to receive rent supplement.