Mortgage to Rent Scheme

Laois County Council can provide assistance to home owners with mortgage arrears who are at risk of losing their home. Home owners can apply to switch from owning their home to renting their home as social housing tenants.

What is Mortgage to Rent?

The Local Authority Mortgage to Rent (LAMTR) scheme, introduced nationally in 2014, is a government initiative to assist homeowners who have mortgages with a Local Authority (LA) and are at risk of losing their homes due to mortgage arrears. 

The LAMTR scheme is one of the possible resolutions for people who have been through the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP) with a LA and whose mortgage has been determined unsustainable. 

The LAMTR scheme allows the Laois County Council to purchase their borrowers’ property with the household, where appropriate, remaining in the property as Laois County Council tenants and paying a differential rent to the Laois County Council. 

To qualify for the LAMTR Scheme, the borrower’s mortgage, property, and household must meet certain criteria

Do I qualify for the scheme?

To qualify for the Mortgage to Rent Scheme, your mortgage, property and household must meet the criteria below.

Mortgage 

  1. The borrower(s) must be the mortgage holder(s) and must be living in the property. 
  2. The borrower(s) must be unable to make the repayments on their Mortgage and the Lending Institution must have decided that this situation is unlikely to change in the future. 
  3. The borrower(s) must be engaging with the Lending Institution to try to find a solution to their situation. 
  4. The borrower(s) must have completed the Mortgage Arrears Resolution Process (MARP) with the Lending Institution. 

Property 

  1. The property can have a marginal positive equity but must be within the limits for its location as outlined below: 

    Cork City, Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire Rathdowney, Fingal, Galway City, Meath, South Dublin, Kildare, Wicklow:€40,000 
    Carlow, Clare, Cork County, Galway County, Kerry, Kilkenny, Laois, Limerick City and County, Louth, Waterford City and County, Westmeath, Wexford:€35,000 
    Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary:€30,000 
  2. The borrower(s) must not own any other property.  

  3. The borrower(s) must be living in a property that suits their needs (i.e. not be over or under-accommodated, in accordance with LA guidelines) and not have more than two spare bedrooms. Flexibility in over accommodation (i.e. more than two spare bedrooms) may be allowed in the following circumstances: 

     

  • the borrower or one of the joint borrowers is aged 65 and over 
  • the borrower, one of the joint borrowers or one of the borrower’s dependents has a disability and the property has been significantly and permanently adapted to their needs 
  • the borrower, one of the joint borrowers or one of the borrower’s dependents has a disability and the property is specifically suitable to their needs without adaptation 

 

  1. In the case of (2) and (3) above, the household must also qualify for Social Housing Support on disability, medical or compassionate grounds in line with the LA’s allocation policy. Such flexibility is subject to the LA or AHB (as appropriate) reserving the right to accommodate the household in more appropriate accommodation, if available, in the future. 

  2. The borrower(s) must be living in a property with a value of no more than: 

    Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow, Louth, Cork, and Galway €450,000 for a house and €335,000 for an apartment or town house
    Rest of the country €345,000 for a house and €230,000 for an apartment or town house 

Household 

  1. The borrower(s) must be eligible for Social Housing Support in the local authority in whose area the house is located. 
  2. The borrower(s) net household income must not exceed €30,000*, €35,000* or €40,000* a year, depending on what part of the country they live in (net household income is the household income after taxes and social insurance (PRSI) have been deducted). (*Additional allowances for children).  
  3. The borrower(s) must have a long-term right to remain in the Republic of Ireland. 

Further information?

For additional information and to see if you are eligible for MTR contact your lender as they will be the main point of contact throughout the process.

For all other mortgage related queries contact the Money Advice and Budgeting service (MABS) on 0818 07 2000 lines are open from 9am to 8pm Monday to Friday.