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Local Authority Mortgage to Rent (LAMTR) scheme
From Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
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The scheme is a government initiative to help homeowners who have mortgages through the local government sector and are at risk of losing their homes due to mortgage arrears. The scheme is one of the possible resolutions for people who have been involved in the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP) with a local authority and whose mortgage has been determined as unsustainable. The most important step any household in mortgage arrears can take is to engage early with the Arrears Support Unit of the local authority.
The Local Authority Mortgage to Rent scheme scheme enables householders to stay in their home and their established community. Surrendering the ownership equity in a home is a very difficult decision; however, the Local Authority Mortgage to Rent scheme scheme provides householders with stability and continuity, after an often long period of financial turmoil. Ownership of the home transfers to the local authority and the householder pays a differential rent.
In order to be considered for the LAMTR scheme, the following criteria must be met: -
Borrower
- Must be unable to make the repayments on the mortgage loan and the Arrears Support Unit has determined that this situation is unlikely to change in the future.
- Must be engaging with the Arrears Support Unit.
- Must be in, or have completed, the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP) with the Arrears Support Unit.
Property
- Must be in negative equity; however, a property that may have marginal positive equity may be considered for inclusion in the scheme where that equity is no more than 10% of the Open Market Value to a maximum of 20,000 euro in Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow, Louth, Cork and Galway and 15,000 euro in the rest of the country.
- Must be the sole property of the borrower - borrower must not own any other property in Ireland or abroad.
- Must be suitable to the borrower/household needs, i.e. not over or under-accommodated, in accordance with local authority guidelines. It should be noted that one spare bedroom is now allowable under the LAMTR scheme. The issue of stock management and demand for particular property types is an issue for individual local authorities. In the event that a local authority can demonstrate, if requested, that the purchase of a property where a household is under or over-accommodated results in the delivery of a property type that is in demand, they may proceed to purchase the property under the scheme. It would be expected, however, that the under or over-accommodated household would be appropriately accommodated in another property and that the purchased property would be used to deal with the housing need in the area.
- Must be the primary property of residence for the borrower.
- Should be of a value no more than 350,000 euro for a house and 300,000 euro for an apartment or townhouse in the areas of Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow, Louth, Cork and Galway; and 250,000 euro for a house and 190,000 euro for an apartment or townhouse in the rest of the country and must adhere to the most up-to-date acquisition cost guidelines, currently set out in Department's Circular 24/2015: Social Housing Capital Investment - Acquisition of properties for Social Housing and the associated acquisition ceilings.
Household
- Must be eligible for Social Housing Support from the local authority.
- Must have a net household income that does not exceed 25,000* euro, 30,000* euro or 35,000* euro a year, depending on where located in the country (net household income is the household income after taxes and social insurance (PRSI) have been taken off). (*Additional allowances for children will apply).
- Must not have capital assets worth in excess of 20,000 euro.
- Must have a long-term right to remain in Ireland.
For further information or to apply for the scheme please contact the mortgage arrears support unit in your local authority .
