9.
asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether he has any plans for speeding up the sale of publicly owned dwellings in Northern Ireland.
I have asked the Northern Ireland Housing Executive to give urgent consideration to ways and means of speeding up the sale of dwellings to sitting tenants who wish to purchase their homes. I understand that the chairman of the executive will be leading a small working group to consider this matter.
At 21 March, under our new house sales policy, 20,659 applications had been received by the executive and 17,476 valuations had been requested from the valuation office, of which 4,867 valuations had been made.I thank the Minister for his reply, but is it not clear from the record that last year the Housing Executive was able to process about 2,000 sales? What guarantee can he give to those who have applied to buy a house that he can multiply that figure by 10 this year? Is he aware that while the price of a house may be tied to the date of application, a long delay means that improvements that need to be carried out will cost a great deal more? Can anything be done to alleviate that problem? Finally, has the Housing Executive any plans to carry out a survey of the ownership of the land on which many rural cottages now stand?
We are looking at the whole problem of title indemnification, which is integral to the hon. Gentleman's last question. I have every reason to think that there will be no hold-up in the continuing flow of offers being made to tenants. We should significantly exceed the number of offers that were made last year under the old sales policy.
Will the Minister take it from me that, in my constituency at least, it is not the Northern Ireland Housing Executive that is causing delay, but the valuation office? Will he take steps to expedite the process?
We had expected problems on valuation, but the figures that I have given show that nearly 5,000 valuations have been made in recent weeks. I suggest that the problem will be less serious than we had anticipated.
Is the hon. Gentleman aware that before the Government came into office the Housing Executive already had a substantial programme for the sale of houses? Is he further aware that the actual speed of sale has not been increased by piling the plans of the new Government on top of that?
I am satisfied that there will be a significant improvement in the coming months.
As a Tory Minister with some experience of finance, can the hon. Gentleman give any indication of what he would regard as the true going-rate for a flat in Divis Towers, Ballymurphy, Turf Lodge, or some of the more affluent areas of Belfast?
I do not expect many applications from people in flats in Divis Towers. However, we have a programme, costing £7 million, which should lead to a massive improvement in the conditions of those tenants, provided that we are allowed to go ahead, and that those who are trying to sabotage the programme do not succeed.
In view of the plight of many young couples who cannot possibly afford the high mortgage rates, which have rocketed as a result of the Government's policies, surely rather than speed up the process the Minister should reconsider the policy not to sell off these valuable assets, especially in areas of high demand for rented accommodation?
We have taken the lead in Northern Ireland in developing co-ownership schemes, particularly the co-ownership housing associations. They offer particular opportunities to young married couples. I am glad that Northern Ireland is doing better in this respect than other parts of the United Kingdom.