Legal problems must be resolved by the Attorney General's office before the Government can introduce legislation to allow local authorities to sell flats to tenants, it has emerged.
Several thousand tenants throughout the country are understood to have been ready to buy flats and apartments for up to a decade, but are unable to do so because of doubts about the legal validity of any such sales.
In the Dáil yesterday, Minister of State for the Environment, Batt O'Keeffe said: "there are very complex issues relating to it. The Government is committed to introducing changes in the tenant purchase system. We must also take account of the advice from the office of the Attorney General. There are certain issues with which the officials from the Attorney General's office are not satisfied.
"I cannot introduce a system that will be found wanting legally at the end of the day.
"We want to make absolutely sure that, when it is introduced, it will stand up in law," he said.
The Government hopes, however, to have new housing legislation ready in early 2008, he told Labour Cork South Central TD Ciarán Lynch.
Up to now, legal experts have expressed doubts that properties bought under such a scheme could be resold, because UK lenders have refused to release a mortgage on similar properties there.
There are also concerns about how a sinking fund - needed to pay for refurbishment and annual and once-off maintenance issues - could be handled in complexes where some flats are privately owned, and others are not.
However, Dublin City Council has carried out detailed work in the area and drafted a scheme that would allow flats in good condition, relative to the length of the lease, to be sold. The council would remain the manager of the complex and landlord of the unsold flats, although a management firm would be set up when all the properties were sold.
Flats would be sold on a 199-year lease at the current market value, with a 3 per cent discount for each year of tenancy, subject to a maximum reduction of 30 per cent, under the Dublin council proposal. In addition, tenants seeking to buy would be given a further 1.75 per cent cut in the sale price for each year they were unable to buy, depending on the date of their first application, between 1988 and 2004.
