City Council no longer accepting the Tenants-in-Situ applications

Dublin City Council confirmed they are no longer accepting applications for Tenant-in-Situ acquisitions for 2025 but are looking where “additional funding” can be diverted from to tackle housing requirements.

The council said they are currently assessing where any additional funding can be directed to have “the greatest impact” at tackling their housing lists, after they had to suspend applications for the Tenant-in-Situ scheme.

The scheme, which allows for tenants to stay in their homes if their landlord decides to sell, by having the local council or Housing Agency buy it from them, has stalled since the end of 2024, when the previous government could not agree on funding targets on time.

Dublin City Council were allocated €95 million by the government for 2025 to pay for the Tenant in Situ scheme, as well as “vacant property purchases for households exiting from homeless services, disability and older persons requiring urgent housing, Buy and Renew (B&R) acquisitions, Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) acquisitions plus associated refurbishment works to these acquisitions”.

Responding to queries from councillors at the full council meeting on Monday, September 1, the council said that to date, they had acquired 56 properties with tenants in situ, 32 properties for exits from homelessness and two properties for households with a disability.

“Dublin City Council is currently working through this Capital Allowance (€95m) and based on acquisitions in progress and refurbishment commitments we are not currently proceeding with new tenant-in-situ acquisitions at this time, Dublin City Council has received 126 tenants-in-situ enquiries since January 2025,” the reply to councillors Danny Byrne and Daithi Doolan read.

The council also said they had recently received correspondence from the Department of Housing advising a further allocation of capital for the 2025 Second-Hand Social Housing Acquisitions Programme.

“Dublin City Councils Housing Department is currently assessing where any additional funding allocation will be directed to have the greatest impact on those on our waiting lists and those households currently residing in homeless accommodation,” they added.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme