Group to help protect 'helpless' homebuyers has three months to report back to Government

In November, Leo Varadkar indicated that a new system could resemble that used in Scotland where a seller will ask for offers over or around a minimum price and a deadline is set. File photo: /Photocall Ireland

A stakeholders' group will be established in the coming weeks to give more protection to homebuyers in a bid to make them feel less "helpless".

Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien told the Irish Examiner the group will be "time-bound" and will aim to report back to government departments in the first three months of the year. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar indicated in November that he would like to see reforms around how protected homebuyers are and Mr O'Brien says that work will begin this month.

The initial calls for reform came in November after homebuyers in Rathmoylan, Co Meath, were asked to pay an extra €60,000 for their homes by a developer who claimed financial difficulties.

The stakeholder group will be run by the Department of Justice. Mr O'Brien said it will look to build on the "good work" of Independent TD Marc MacSharry's Seller's Legal Pack Bill, which aims to speed up the homebuying process.

"A lot of people are buying for the first time — it doesn't get easier the second time — but you are in the hands of everyone else and you can feel a bit helpless. You're trusting people to do things and most do well, but there's been obviously some cases that that haven't worked out well," Mr O'Brien said.

"This isn't a working group that's going to go on for 12 months. This would be looking at doing a piece of work in the first quarter of the year."

In November, Mr Varadkar indicated that a new system could resemble that used in Scotland where a seller will ask for offers over or around a minimum price and a deadline is set. Interested parties then submit sealed bids via a solicitor. However, Mr O'Brien said that he did not have any vision as yet for how the reforms might look, saying that "everything is on the table".