Carlow Local Authorities are committed to the provision of high quality relevant services in an open and responsive manner.
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Tenant Purchase Scheme

Tenants of a local authority house for at least one year may apply to their local authority to purchase it either outright or by way of shared ownership. The price of the house will be its market value, as determined by the local authority, in its existing state of repair and condition, less discounts. The structural condition of the house is taken into account and any increase in the market value due to improvements made to the house by the tenant will be disregarded in calculating the price. The discount is 3% of the value of the house for each year of tenancy of a local authority house (up to a maximum of 10 years), plus €3,809.

Incremental Purchase Scheme

The proposed incremental purchase scheme for social housing tenants and prospective tenants is based on the development of the shared equity concept whereby tenants would be allowed to use their rental payments to build up an equity stake in a local authority house in an incremental fashion in return for paying a premium on the rent and taking over responsibility for the maintenance of the dwelling. The objective is to make it possible for households with incomes substantially lower than for affordable housing to start on the path to home ownership.

Improvement Works

Under this scheme, the local authority may improve or extend a privately owned house to eliminate defects or to provide additional accommodation where it is necessary to eliminate overcrowding or to accommodate a person not at present residing in the house. The scheme can also be availed by local authority tenants, tenant purchasers or certain voluntary housing tenants who move to a privately owned house requiring improvement works. The scheme does not apply to improvements to private rented houses.

The carrying out of the works must satisfy the housing needs of the household and result in their removal from the housing waiting list. Persons benefiting under the scheme are required to pay a weekly or monthly charge related to their means and the cost of the works carried out by the local authority.