Tenants being evicted from their homes would, under legislation proposed by the Government, have 90 days to put a first bid in on the property before it can be sold on the open market.
The approach, set out in the forthcoming Residential Tenancies (Right to Purchase) Bill, is believed to hold a low risk of breaching the constitutional rights of landlords.
Cabinet was updated on the drafting of the legislation by Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien on Tuesday, but the law is unlikely to block property sales to family members.
It follows an agreement by Government last March that tenants should be afforded the opportunity to buy their home with a “first right of refusal”.
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Following consultation with the Attorney General, the draft law would state that following the issuing of a notice of termination, a landlord would be obliged to give their tenant 90 days to make a bid while notifying the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB).
The landlord can proceed to sell the property on the open market if the tenant does not make a bid, or if the landlord refuses that bid, but the 90-day period must be allowed to play out first.
While the property owner would be entitled to place the property on the market from the time the notice of termination is served, a sale could not be finalised until after the 90 days has elapsed, unless it is to the tenant.
Obliged
However, the landlord would also then be obliged to invite the tenant to match the agreed bid made on the open market with a third-party buyer. They would have 10 days to do so, and the landlord would have to accept it under the proposed law.
The RTB would be available to a tenant to seek redress in cases where such rules are not followed and damages of up to €20,000 could be awarded to the tenant through a dispute determination order.
While the Bill would place a considerable opportunity in the hands of tenants facing losing their homes, the department is considering a number of exemptions. These include situations where a tenant is in rent arrears or engaging in anti-social behaviour, as determined by the RTB.
Further, if a tenant already owns a residential property in Ireland, or in cases where the property is being sold to a family member, the rules may not apply.
Work on the proposals is due to continue over the summer and Government approval for a General Scheme of the Bill to progress is to be sought in September.
Minister for Finance Michael McGrath said in April that he was aware of cases where landlords were entering into arrangements to sell their property to a tenant on “a voluntary basis on market value terms”.
