Transcript
Galway Talks with John Morley, Galway Bay FM, 1 September 2026
0:00 John Morley: You're listening to Galway Bay FM and this is Galway Talks with John Morley.
0:04 Rising house prices might sound like good news for homeowners, but for some people in serious mortgage distress, they could actually make matters worse. Homeowners are being urged to investigate the government backed Mortgage to Rent scheme before increasing property values potentially push them outside of eligibility limits.
0:23 New analysis of more than 600 cases found that 4 in 10 users are single parent families, 7 in 10 are in their 50s or 60s, and homeowners were in negative equity of 27% on average. The scheme allows eligible people with unsustainable mortgages to give up ownership of their property but remain living in their home as a social housing tenant.
0:46 Stephen Curtis is the CEO of Irish Homes and he joins us now. Stephen, good morning and thanks for joining us on the programme today. Some concerning trends in this latest report.
0:55 Stephen Curtis: Yeah, good morning, and nice to talk to you this morning. I don't think it surprised us, but when you see it on paper it is a little bit concerning. Nearly 20 years on from the crash in 2008, there are still a number of people who are not able to resolve their mortgage arrears and who are still in very, very deep financial difficulty.
1:22 What the data showed is that those people may have been in their 30s and 40s in 2008, but they're now into their 50s and 60s, and their ability to recover, to get a new job or to get back on their feet hasn't happened for one reason or another in the last 20 years. Time is running out for them.
1:55 What we're seeing in tandem with that is that if they don't have the ability to restructure their mortgage, and they don't have the funds available to do that, schemes like the Mortgage to Rent scheme represent a lifeline for them and a way that they can stay in their house. But the eligibility criteria for the scheme mean that as time goes on, they're less likely to qualify, because their property may increase in value and they may fall outside the criteria. That option would potentially close off for them.
2:29 What we're really trying to do is highlight that for people in deep mortgage arrears with unsustainable loans: first of all, get some advice and find out what your options are. And the old phrase applies. The best time to do it was yesterday, but the second best time is today. Take some action and find out what you can do to resolve this very, very difficult situation.
2:59 John Morley: Is this becoming a growing issue in the sector?
3:03 Stephen Curtis: I think so. Our experience is that people entering the Mortgage to Rent scheme generally come with a level of vulnerability. They've had a business failure, they've had a health issue, or they've often had a relationship breakdown, which is why you see such a high percentage of people in single adult households. That's usually not a single person living on their own. It's often a family where one or other of the parents has left for one reason or another.
3:40 We're certainly seeing that level of vulnerability, and as time has gone on, people haven't been able to resolve their difficulties themselves, either by restructuring loans or coming to some sort of arrangement with the lender. That's why we started looking at it. When we got the findings we did, we said we need to make people aware that there are solutions like the Mortgage to Rent scheme available to them, but they do have eligibility criteria, and to give yourself the best chance of qualifying, action is needed now, not in six months' time or years' time.
4:18 We often find people who would have qualified for Mortgage to Rent two years ago, but today they don't, because their property has increased in value. Most people like to see property prices increasing, but perversely, for this scheme, increasing property prices don't necessarily help people.
4:35 John Morley: Some of the rules around the Mortgage to Rent scheme, I know, include caps on property values and the amount of positive equity permitted. The maximum permitted value ranges from €265,000 to €515,000 depending on the county, and similarly the permitted positive equity can be no greater than €40,000 or €50,000, depending on the county as well. Given the housing crisis and the increasing property prices we're seeing in this hot market, Stephen, does the government need to look at expanding those ranges?
5:09 Stephen Curtis: Yeah, I think so. The government have reviewed them over time. I'm long enough at this to remember when the threshold for Mortgage to Rent was €180,000, which was a long time ago, so to be fair, they have increased them. But as time goes on, property prices, for good or bad, haven't stopped increasing. A house that was worth €300,000 in 2024 is probably worth €330,000 or €350,000 now.
5:36 What we're finding is that people at the margins might have had €10,000 or €20,000 of negative equity, and now all of a sudden they have €50,000 or €60,000 of positive equity that has just occurred over the last couple of years. And this isn't constrained to urban locations. It's all types of properties in all types of locations, everything from rural properties in Connemara to city centre apartments in Galway. It's the same trend.
6:15 When you look at the Daft figures, property prices in certain pockets, particularly in rural areas in the west of Ireland, have increased by a greater percentage than in some urban areas, because of remote working and various other things. People have said, I can live in the countryside now.
6:32 So it's certainly something we struggle with when people approach us looking to enter the scheme. We try to help people and get as many people who want to access the scheme to be eligible as possible. But our core message is that the best time to engage and see if this would work for you is today, and we're trying to make people aware of that and give them that bit of guidance.
7:04 John Morley: Also, I know there has been a national milestone of more than 3,000 completed Mortgage to Rent cases, which is separate from the Irish Homes analysis. What do you make of that, Stephen?
7:18 Stephen Curtis: Mortgage to Rent has helped, as you say, 3,000 households around the country since inception. It's a very, very good scheme, and it has gained that level of traction over a prolonged period of time. To be fair to all the relevant stakeholders, the county councils, the government and the different lenders, there's a lot of willingness to do more and to deliver it for the people who need it.
7:41 But our message really is, first of all, that there's still a cohort of people who need Mortgage to Rent, and if you're in financial difficulty, you should look at it as an option. Equally, policy makers and government need to keep an eye on making sure the eligibility criteria don't knock people out of the scheme that it was designed to protect.
8:12 What I'm talking about there is older people, vulnerable people, people with illnesses who are never going to recover and get back to work. Mortgage to Rent is a big decision for someone to make, because ultimately they're giving up ownership of their house. Nobody goes into Mortgage to Rent who hasn't really thought about it and really needs it. We'd encourage government and policy makers to make sure the eligibility criteria match the people the scheme is trying to help.
8:43 John Morley: Irish Homes is one of the most active providers of Mortgage to Rent. For your part of it, what do you put into these properties?
8:53 Stephen Curtis: We step in and buy the property from the lender, and then we commence a refurbishment programme on every property we buy, to make sure it meets minimum rental standards. That ranges from redecorating to rewiring, new electrics and new plumbing, so that all the homes we have are warm, dry and safe. They're then inspected by the Local Authority to make sure the work is up to scratch and that they're happy with it.
9:22 So considerable investment goes into every property, to make sure it meets people's needs in the long term, and that they can remain in those homes and either enjoy their retirement or, if they're not at retirement age, continue working towards it. That's the objective of the scheme.
9:43 John Morley: Stephen Curtis, CEO of Irish Homes, thank you for joining us on Galway Talks.
9:47 Stephen Curtis: Thanks. Take care.
Transcript lightly edited for readability: filler words and false starts removed, meaning unchanged. Figures are as stated on air.