Roscommon County Council are seeking expressions of interest for the delivery of new dwellings under the Starter Home Scheme.

In this call, building contractors and housing developers are being asked to consider offering properties with planning permission to Roscommon County Council under an advance purchase turnkey arrangement.

How Roscommon County Council can help you in this process

Where proposals for starter homes are received and considered acceptable, Roscommon County Council will make an application to the Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) under the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage for a subsidy to assist in meeting the cost of delivery of the Starter Home Purchase Scheme.

The advance purchase agreement provides for the direct sale of homes by the developer to an eligible purchaser nominated by the local authority. Roscommon County Councill will assess the purchaser’s eligibility and nominate them to you.

Roscommon County Council will release the subsidy to you on completion of the sale.

Expressions of interest can be submitted by using the below form

Expressions of Interest for the delivery of new dwellings under the Starter Home Scheme – Fill out form

For further details please contact:

Housing Department

Roscommon County Council

Aras an Chontae

Roscommon

F42 VR98

or email: housing@roscommoncoco.ie

The Application portal for the Woodberry Manor Starter Home Purchase Scheme will go live on the 24th of February 2024 12:00PM

Please preregister your account on MyOnline Services - Roscommon County Council

We strongly recommend having all the required documentation for each applicant saved and ready to be uploaded before you start your application.

Starter Homes Check List

A completed Salary Certificate for each applicant is required at the time of application. 

Salary Certificate

The purchase price will be calculated by Roscommon County Council based on the “purchasing power” of eligible applicants. This calculation takes into account applicants maximum mortgage capacity and the minimum price set for the home by the Council.

The purchasing power of applicants will be calculated as the combined total of:

• Maximum mortgage capacity, i.e., 4 times gross household income, plus,
• A minimum deposit of 10% of the starter home price, plus, 
• Relevant savings**.  

**If you have savings above a certain amount, you may not qualify for the scheme. You can have the money to cover the deposit on the home and an additional €30,000. Anything above this is added to your purchasing power. And, if this purchasing power goes above the maximum price set for each home, you are not eligible for the scheme.

Applicants must be able to demonstrate that they can fund the purchase of a starter home between the minimum and maximum purchase prices. If an applicant’s purchasing power is below the minimum purchase price, they will need to confirm that they have additional funds such as a gift that will increase their purchasing power to the minimum purchase price.

Applicants with purchasing power assessed as over the maximum purchase price of the starter units available will be ineligible for the scheme.

You are eligible if you satisfy the following criteria:

1. You are over 18 years of age.
2. You are a First Time Buyer or meet the exceptions under the Fresh Start principle.
3. You have not previously purchased or built a home in the Republic of Ireland for your own occupation. Exceptions apply to Fresh Start Principle applicants.
4. Each person included in the application must have the right to reside in the State.
5. Your home must be your principal place of residence.
6. You must need at least a 5% equity stake from the local authority.
7. You have a minimum deposit of 10% of the purchase price.

It is recommended that applicants have their mortgage approval in principle prior to applying for a starter home or at least be in a position to apply for a mortgage.

Eligibility calculator is available at the Starter Homes Website. Click here.

How do I prove my right to reside indefinitely in the State?

For non-EU/EEA applicants:

• Please submit a copy of your Irish Resident Permit (IRP or GNIB Stamp 4) card, indicating which permissions you have.
• Single/joint applications where both applicant(s) are Non-EEA/EU, applicants must have indefinite leave to remain in the State.
• An application from a non-EEA/EU national, who is a spouse or civil partner of the EU /EEA national, may be considered as part of a joint application for that household, provided they have a valid residence card or permanent residence card with a valid Stamp 4EUFam.

UK citizens will be regarded as being legally resides in Ireland. (This accords with the Common Travel Area requirements).

A ‘Fresh Start Principle’ applies in respect of an Starter Home Purchase Agreement for the Starter Homes Scheme.

The following categories of persons may be eligible to apply for a starter home.

1.  Applicant(s) that previously held a legal interest in a residential property but is divested of this legal interest through any of the following mechanisms may be eligible to apply:

• Legal separation
• Divorce
• Bankruptcy
• Insolvency

Examples of documentary evidence will be:

• Separation agreement
• Court order
• Affidavit from a Solicitor confirming the separation or divorce
• Solicitors letter confirming the applicant has exited insolvency or bankruptcy and that any previously purchased home has been sold or they have fully divested of that home as result of such process.

2. Applicant(s) that previously owned, was/were beneficially entitled to, or have an interest in a dwelling in the state and that this dwelling, because of the size, is not suited to the current accommodation needs of the applicant’s household i.e., house overcrowded, may be eligible to apply.

A Scheme of Priority was approved by the Elected Members of Roscommon County Council on 15th December 2025. 

The purpose of the Scheme of Priority is to outline the rules Roscommon County Council uses to decide which applicants will be offered dwellings. The Scheme of Priority will apply in the event where there are more eligible applicants than starter homes available.

Should the number of eligible applicants exceed the number of starter homes available on the scheme, priority will be applied on the following basis:

1. Priority will be given to applicants whose accommodation needs would be adequately catered for by the type of dwelling in question

2. A minimum of 30% of the dwellings will be allocated to eligible applicants whose current address as given in the application form is within the Municipal District of the relevant starter homes programme for a minimum period of two (2) years on the date of application. 

You can check to see which Municipal District you are living in by clicking on the below link and selecting  “3 Administrative Boundaries”

Useful Maps of Roscommon's Services, Activities and Events

3. Priority will be given to eligible applicants in the date and time order that their applications were received 

While it is not a requirement, it is recommended that before applying for a starter home, you have mortgage approval in principle from a mortgage provider confirming the maximum mortgage available to you.

An approval in principle is a letter from a lender indicating the amount of money you are eligible to borrow for a mortgage. Your application cannot be fully processed unless you have mortgage approval in principle.

A minimum deposit of 10% of the purchase price of the property will also be required so applicants should ensure they have sufficient savings before applying. First time buyer applicants can avail of the Help to Buy Scheme. This is operated by the Revenue Commissioners. For more information, please click here.

An individual application will be required for each Starter Homes Programme; there is no general application form. Applications will only be accepted via our online portal.

Once the application portal opens, you can proceed to complete the online application form. You will be required to submit the supporting documentation through our online portal at the time of application.

In the online application portal, applicants will be required to complete an online application form.

In addition, the below document is a list of supporting documentation that each applicant will be required to provide as part of their application.

This information must be uploaded to the portal as you proceed through the application form. Please ensure that the relevant documents are uploaded to the correct section as requested. This may involve the same document being uploaded under a number of different sections.

Failure to upload all required document to the correct section will result in delays to the application validation

We recommend having all the required documentation for each applicant saved and ready to be uploaded before you start your application.

Starter Homes Check List

A completed Salary Certificate for each applicant is required at the time of application. 

Salary Certificate

Local Authority Home Loan

Help to buy

Starter Homes

Glossary of Terms 

All queries on Starter Homes can be sent to: affordablehomes@roscommoncoco.ie