I propose to take Questions Nos. 409, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414 and 415 together.
The Local Authority Home Loan (LAHL) is a Government-backed mortgage for creditworthy applicants who cannot get sufficient funding from commercial lenders to purchase or build a home. The loan has been available nationwide from local authorities since 4 January 2022 for first-time buyers and fresh start applicants. To qualify for the loan applicants must demonstrate that they are unable to secure finance from two commercial lenders for the amount sought under the LAHL, applicants who have received sufficient offers of credit from a commercial lender are ineligible for the LAHL.
The policies of commercial lenders regarding the credit amounts and terms offered to individual borrowers are a matter for the lenders concerned.
The LAHL permits applications from both single applicants and joint applicants subject to maximum income limits. Currently single applicants can earn up to a maximum of €70,000 while joint applicants can earn a maximum of €85,000 to be eligible for the LAHL. Joint applicants can have one or more incomes, e.g. and a single income joint applicant household may still be eligible for the loan.
The amount of money that may be borrowed under the scheme is calculated based on the level of an applicant’s net income determined as available for repayment purposes. It is important, both for the lender and the borrower, that a mortgage is only granted to applicants who have a sufficient repayment capacity to repay the mortgage.
State benefit payments including disability allowance are generally not considered as part of repayment capacity. Exceptions are the state, widow(er), blind and invalidity pensions paid by the Department of Social Protection. It is important to note that the presence or absence of disability payments does not in itself determine eligibility for the LAHL, what matters is the overall repayment capacity of the household, assuming all other eligibility criteria are met. There are no plans to revise these criteria.
Both the Programme for Government 2025 and Delivering Homes: Building Communities commit to reviewing house price and income thresholds of the Local Authority Home Loan to ensure that it remains an accessible route to home ownership in the current housing market. The outcome of this review will addressed in due course.
