S.I. No. 915/2005 - Housing (Rent Subsidy) Regulations 2005

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 5 of the Housing Act 1966 (No. 21 of 1966), as amended by section 24 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992 (No 18 of 1992) and by section 4 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992 , as amended by section 18 of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2002 (No. 32 of 2002), with the consent of the Minister for Finance, hereby makes the following Regulations:

1.       These Regulations may be cited as the Housing (Rent Subsidy Regulations 2005.

2.       (1) In these Regulations, any reference to an article is a reference to an article of these Regulations and any reference to a sub-article is a reference to a sub-article of the article in which the reference occurs.

(2)      In these Regulations -

“house” has the meaning given to it in section 1 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992 ;

“household income” means the total gross annual income from all sources of the lessee and his or her spouse or partner;

“housing authority” has the meaning given to it in section 23 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992 as amended by section 16 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2002 (No. 9 of 2002);

“lessee” means the person or persons to whom a shared ownership lease has been granted;

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

“rent subsidy” means a subsidy payable under section 4 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992 , as amended by section 18 of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2002 ;

“shared ownership lease” has the meaning given to it in section 2 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992 as amended by section 16 of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2002 ;

“tax reference number” means

(a)      in the case of a person paying income tax under PAYE, the Personal Public Service Number (PPSN) stated on any determination of tax credits issued to that person by an inspector of taxes, or

(b)      in the case of a self-employed person or a company, the reference number stated on any return of income form or notice of assessment issued to that person or company by an inspector of taxes.

3.       A function which under these Regulations is to be discharged by a housing authority shall be discharged: -

(1) where the house provided is situated in a county by the relevant county council except where the house is situated in the boroughs of Drogheda, Sligo or Wexford or in the towns of Athlone or Dundalk;

(2) where the house provided is situated in a city or in the boroughs of Drogheda, Sligo or Wexford, by the council of such city or borough; and

(3) where the house provided is situated in the town of Athlone or Dundalk, by the appropriate town council.

4.       (1) A rent subsidy may be payable by a housing authority in respect of a shared ownership lease made on or after 1 January 2006 where household income in the preceding tax year was €28,000 or less.

(2) The amount of subsidy payable is dependent on household income as set out in the following table -

5.       (1) A lessee, once approved for rent subsidy in a particular income band, will not be moved to a lower rent subsidy until the total of all subsequent increases in household income amount to three times the amount of the consequent reduction in rent subsidy.

(2) From 1 January 2006 -

(a)      where household income in respect of a lessee already approved for rent subsidy moves to and remains in the range €28,001 to €29,000 a reduced subsidy of €500 per annum will be payable, and

(b)      where household income increases above €29,000 no rent subsidy will be payable.

6.       A rent subsidy shall not be paid unless -

(1)      the house provided is, in the opinion of the housing authority suitable for the needs of the lessee and of those persons who might reasonably be expected to reside in the house;

(2)      the lessee furnishes to the housing authority his or her tax reference number and details of his or her tax district together with a statement that, to the best of his or her knowledge, his or her tax affairs are in order;

(3)      on completion of the house provided or, where the lessee has the house built on a site, on completion of its construction, the lessee occupies the house as his or her normal place of residence;

(4)      household income is €28,000 or less in the tax year preceding the year in which the shared ownership lease is granted; and

(5)      the lessee applies to the housing authority for the allowance.

7.       (1) A rent subsidy shall cease to be payable in the event of -

(a)      the lessee ceasing to occupy the house provided as his or her normal place of residence;

(b)      the housing authority applying to a court for an order for the possession of the house; or

(c)      the lessee purchasing outright the rented equity leased by the housing authority.

(2) Notwithstanding sub-article (1)(b), where a rent subsidy has ceased to be payable in accordance with that sub-article it may again become payable if the application to the court for possession of the house is not proceeded with or an order for possession granted by the court is not executed, upon the Minister being satisfied that the lessee has reached an agreement with the housing authority in relation to the matter on which the application for possession was grounded and payment may be made of any portion of the rent subsidy that would have been payable, had the said application not been made, in respect of the period from the date of making the application.

(3)   Where the payment of a rent subsidy would reduce the rent payable by the lessee to less than €2 per week, the amount of such subsidy payable in accordance with article 4 shall be reduced by a sum sufficient to ensure that the rent payable is €2 per week.

8.       A rent subsidy may be recouped by the Minister to a housing authority in half yearly instalments (or by such other periodic payments as the Minister may determine), and the housing authority shall, upon the receipt of any such instalment (or other periodic payment), credit it as if it were a payment by the lessee in respect of the rent due.

Dated this 30^th day of December 2005.

The Minister for Finance consents to the foregoing Regulations.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

These regulations provide for: -

I.    Payment of a rent subsidy under the shared ownership scheme; and

II.   Details of income bands and rent subsidy amounts payable.