Tipperary County Council have received no funding for Tenant In-Situ scheme this year

The Tenant In-Situ scheme could be one answer to attaining quicker housing for those on waiting lists in Tipperary, according to a local councillor.

This scheme allows a tenant to continue to rent their current home if their landlord is selling the property.

The scheme allows the local authority or a Housing Agency to buy the property from the landlord, and then continue to rent the property to the tenant.

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Independent Cllr John O’Heney explained the benefits of the scheme at the recent Tipperary/Cahir/Cashel Municipal District meeting held on Monday July 28.

“People are coming to me that are currently in houses where the landlords are looking to sell and move on. This is a solution to a problem, and it’s a cost saving solution.

"If you have to retrofit houses and buy houses, with the cost of material being so high too, it’s an exorbitant issue and cost on the council. I’m still hopeful that Tipperary County Council will try and take up this scheme again and advocate a bit better for it.

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"I know it’s a budgetary issue but I’m still receiving countless people that would be able to avail of this scheme and I just wanted to highlight it here today,” he concluded.

Sinn Fein Cllr Annemarie Ryan Shiner reiterated Cllr O’Heney’s words on this issue.

“I understand it’s not a decision of the local authority to no longer be able to roll that out in this area, or in any area in the county.

"But does housing have any funding to acquire properties under the tenant in situ scheme for 2025. Like Cllr O’Heney I have people who have been given notice to quits and are facing homelessness, some of them," said Cllr Ryan Shiner.

Cllr Liam Browne also agreed with Cllr O’Heney’s remarks. The Independent councillor said “Like O’Heney said, if that was a council house that went empty, we’d spend 12 months trying to put it back into use, with the amount of work that needs to be done to it and the lack of a budget to do so.

"With the Tenant In-Situ scheme, we can just buy it off the landlord who wants to sell up and we can probably make a saving.”

Cllr Browne made the point that while buying the house at market price will be more, the council would make a saving on not having to upgrade a house that’s gone vacant like the council previously have had to do.

A housing spokesperson responded to councillors queries in relation to the Tenant In-Situ scheme.

“We don’t have any funding from the department in relation to that. We can’t purchase any properties at the moment. Unfortunately that’s the way it is across the country at the moment,” they said.

The council also announced the lack of funding for the scheme during a meeting of this MD held in March of this year.

At the meeting councillors were told that the council were not buying any further houses as part of the scheme.