Housing: Mortgage Allowance
Mortgage Allowance Scheme
An allowance of up €11,428 is payable over a 5 year period to tenants or tenant purchasers of local authority housing or tenants of housing provided under the voluntary housing Rental Subsidy Scheme to assist them to purchase or have a private house built with a mortgage.
Do I Qualify?
If you are:
- a local authority tenant or tenant purchaser who wishes to buy a private house and to return your present house to the local authority, or
- a tenant for more than one year of a house provided by a voluntary body under the Rental Subsidy Scheme who wishes to buy a private house and return your present house to the voluntary body.
You may apply for a mortgage allowance
How much is the Allowance?
The allowance will normally come to a total of €11,428. It is paid directly to the lending agency and reduces your mortgage payments in each of the first five years - by €3 555 in the first year, €2,793 in the 2nd year, €2,032 in the 3rd year, € 1,778 in the 4th year and €1,270 in the 5th year. The allowance paid in any year cannot exceed the amount of the mortgage repayments. If for instance, your mortgage repayments in the first year came to €3,174 the allowance would be € 3,174.
Generally, you will still have mortgage repayments to meet even taking into account the mortgage allowance.
For example, on a mortgage of €100,000 over 20 years from your local authority, interest is variable and is currently (May 2011) 3.25% (excluding mortgage protection @ 0.5615 %), the mortgage allowance would reduce your monthly repayments (before income tax relief on mortgage interest) in the first year from about €738 to about € 442 per month.
If you are unable to obtain a mortgage loan from a bank or a building society, you may qualify for one from the local authority - ask your local office for details of their house purchase loans.
If you plan to build a new house, you may be able to obtain a site at low cost from your local authority in addition to the mortgage allowance. Please contact your local office for further details.
Ballina Office (096) 76100
Ballinrobe Office (094) 9541111
Belmullet Office (097) 81004
Castlebar Office (094) 9024444
Claremorris Office (094) 9362954
Swinford Office (094) 9251495
Westport Office (098) 50400