New mortgage-to-rent leases suspended for failure to repair home defects

The Housing Agency has suspended the issuance of new mortgage-to-rent leases for homes owned by the Home for Life company over failures to repair building defects.

Some local authorities have also stopped paying rent to tenants until repair work is completed by the company.

The halt to new leases was confirmed by the Department of Housing in a statement to the Irish Independent.

Based in Bray, Co Wicklow, Home for Life Ltd is the only private company approved to operate in the mortgage-to-rent sector.

The scheme allows distressed borrowers to give up their homes but continue to live there as social housing tenants.

The property is sold by their lender to a mortgage lender which can be an accredited housing association (AHB) or, since 2017, Home for Life.

The AHB or local authority, in cases where the property is sold to Home for Life, becomes the landlord and the borrower remains in the property as a tenant paying a differential rent to the landlord based on his or her income.

More than 960 mortgage applications have been approved related to Home for Life properties, with nearly 400 more in the pipeline.

However, problems have arisen with the condition of properties.

Both the AHBs and Home for Life are obliged to carry out necessary repairs.

But the department said it had learned in recent months that there were problems with repair work on a number of Home for Life properties.

It said the Housing Agency, supported by the department, informed Home for Life on Oct. 27 that it would not issue any further leases until the matter had been investigated.

“Home for Life has now informed them and the respective local authorities that works have been completed in the vast majority of cases,” the statement said.

“Local authorities are currently carrying out inspections to confirm that this work has been completed. They deploy their own inspectors and are also investigating the possibility of outsourcing the inspection work to third parties to speed up this process.

“In a small number of cases, the council has suspended rental payments as permitted by the lease and these payments will resume once work has been satisfactorily completed.”

The issue was raised in the Dáil this evening by People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett.

“As I understand it, this was because defects were not rectified. Repairs were not made. So, it begs the question: Do hundreds of people in Home for Life live in unsafe buildings? We need to find out very soon,” said the TD.

The company could not be reached for comment tonight.

Last month, the Supreme Court heard allegations that Home for Life refused to honor a contract with a property services company to provide repairs and other services for the homes.

The allegations, made by O’Dwyer Property Management, have been disputed by Home for Life.