Calls for 'equality' for AHB tenants in Limerick seeking to purchase a home
COUNCILLORS want to see equality among local authority tenants when it comes to buying their home.
People who live in council homes can qualify to purchase it if they’ve lived there over a decade, and meet other criteria.
However, this is not the case for people living in so-called Approved Housing Body (AHB) houses, which work hand-in-hand with council to provide affordable rented homes for people who cannot afford to pay private sector rents.
At this month’s council meeting, councillors called for this difference to be addressed, with a motion from councillors in the Adare/Rathkeale district unanimously adopted. Housing director Caroline Curley said the only way this can be changed is to lobby government to alter the existing laws.
She explained that if an AHB is in receipt of public funding, it must comply with terms and conditions. One of these is that the provider is legally required to make the property available for social renting for the duration of the leasing agreement.
She did say that if a property is owned outright by an AHB, and not subject to public funding, the company may choose to sell the unit by private treaty.
Fine Gael councillor Stephen Keary said: “Under the current regime, a tenant can never become an owner. I’d ask that we write to the Housing Minister to change the regulation on this.”
He added he would have concerns that once an AHBs contract with council is up, the unit might be sold to a vulture fund.
Fianna Fail councillor Bridie Collins said: “If you’re a tenant, you’re a tenant and you should have equal rights regardless of who you are renting from.”
City East member Sarah Kiely said she’s “100% behind this motion”. She pointed out the inequity which already exists in the city.
“It is shocking that on one side of Bloodmill Road and Condell Road you have council properties, and on the other side you have AHB properties. It means one group can buy their home while the other can’t,” she said. She also expressed concern at a lack of succession rights in AHB homes meaning they cannot be handed down through families, often the case in council homes.