Parents' aid may stop first-time buyers getting grants

Parents who help their children buy their first house may be preventing them from securing the first-time buyer's grant.

Property Partners, a body representing a group of auctioneers nationwide, claims the generosity of parents or friends could be contributing to the refusal of new house grants.

Spokesman Eugene Davy said some banks insist that the names of parents who act as guarantors are put on the mortgage.

When the buyer applies for a grant to the Department of the Environment, they are refused on the basis that the parents already have a house, he said.

The Department is currently re-examining this aspect of the law.