COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, July 14, 2014

QUESTION NO.50

QUESTION: Councillor Fintan Warfield

To ask the Chief Executive for a list of homes purchased throughout the county that SDCC hold free title to? 

REPLY:

It is presumed that the question relates to homes bought from the Council by way of lease and in respect of which the Council holds the freehold title.

The properties in question are in two categories as follows;

In the 1970’s the Council operated a scheme whereby the Council made lands available to Small Building Contractors to build reasonably priced houses for purchase by persons in need of housing. The Council transferred title to the house to the nominated purchaser by way of lease for 150 years. This method of sale was common practice at the time but ceased following the introduction of the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) Act 1978.

There are 126 properties remaining in this category where the freehold title has not yet been bought out by the Lessees.

These are spread over the following estates:

Balrothery, Tallaght                                               57

Limekiln Road/Ave., Walkinstown                            15

Oakwood Grove, Clondalkin                                     15

Alpine Heights, Clondalkin                                       24

Ashwood, Clondalkin                                               15

                                                                           ____

Total                                                                    126

Ground Rent on Tenant Purchase Properties

Tenant purchasers that purchased their home before May 1978 became the owner of what is known as the leasehold interest. This meant that that the purchaser did not own, or 'hold full title to', the property but only owned the house and not the land it stood on.

Under the terms of the leasehold interest an annual ground rent was payable to the Council as they still owned the land, this ground rent is not demanded on an annual basis. The amount of ground rent to be paid varied with the charge, in most cases it was circa €0.06 (£0.05) for a fixed number of years commonly 99 or 150 years.

How Ground Rent affects Tenant Purchasers:

When a tenant purchaser purchased their home through a Sales Scheme the consent of the Council is needed if that purchaser decided to sell, re-mortgage or transfer their interest in the property. This consent is a legal requirement under the terms of the scheme and is only granted when certain conditions have been met. Consent is required only for the first sale, re-mortgage or transfer of interest in a property.

The requirement for consent is for a fixed number of years only from the date of purchase.

In the case of houses sold before May 1978 consent would normally no longer be needed after 25 years (May 2003 at the latest) but if the Ground Rent has not been bought out the Council continues to have an interest in the property and consent is still required regardless of the original date of purchase. Buying out the ground rent would free the tenant purchaser from seeking such consent.

For houses sold prior to 1992 the requirement for the Council’s consent ends after 25 years and for houses sold after 1992 the Council’s consent requirement expires after 20 years.

A tenant purchaser can check the title they hold on the Property Registration Authority’s website at www.landregistry.ie or at LoCall 1890 333 001.

Should a tenant purchaser wish to buy out their ground rent they can download the application form from the Council website at www.sdcc.ie or call the Loan Account Section at 4149000 ext.: 7138.