Council Asked To "Pause" Any Talks On Large Scale Home Leasing With 3rd Parties.

Thursday, 27 May 2021 07:00

The motion has been submitted by the Fine Gael group of councillors.

Kildare County Council is being asked to "pause" any negotiations with third parties on large scale home leasing.

The motion, by Fine Gael councillors Joe Neville, Tracey O’Dwyer, Evie Sammon and Tim Durkan, says KCC should do so in cases where 10 or more properties are included.

Last week, legislation passed imposing a 10% stamp duty on the purchase of 10 or more houses by single entity.

While planning changes mean up to 50 per cent of new developments will be reserved for owner occupiers.

Apartments are exempted from the legislation, which is aimed at preventing the bulk purchase of homes by investment funds.

One of the key factors in prompting the legislation was the purchase of 80% of the homes in Mullen Park, Maynooth, by a fund.

The motion asks that KCC suspend any talks it may be engaged in with respect to 10 ore more homes " until further information is received from
Government regarding legislation related to this function."

The Social Democrats group of councillors, of Aidan Farrelly, Nuala Killeen, Chris Pender, Bill Clear, want the council to request " a briefing for members with the Minister for Housing to address the transparency of housing delivery under the five pillars of social housing delivery and the role of state-backed private investor funds in purchasing housing developments in Kildare."

And Labour councillors Aoife Breslin and Angela Feeney want KCC to call "on the Government to urgently introduce legislation that prevents foreign investment funds from bulk buying in new housing developments in our county.

All motions will be debated at the monthly meeting of the council, on Monday.