For lots of renters trying to buy in Ireland right now, their biggest barrier isn’t ambition or effort. It’s timing. You can afford rent, you’re working, you’re doing everything right, but the mortgage system says no, or at least not yet. That gap – and every widening cost difference – between renting and owning is exactly why we built Homely.
Rent-to-own isn’t a shortcut, and it certainly isn’t for everyone. But for many, it’s a structured pathway that can today work for people who are close to being mortgage-ready but need a stable home today, some more time, and a clear route forward. As we head look at 2026, here’s how to think about whether it’s right for you, and when it isn’t.
Who exactly is rent-to-own designed for?
At its core, Homely works for people who can already afford housing today. When you rent-to-own with us, you should expect to pay a few key parts:
- An upfront fee, typically 2.5% of the property value (subject to minimums for properties below €400k)
- Market rent for your selected property, rent capped and subject to RTB regulations
- A separate and additional monthly payment that secures your right to buy
Please also remember that we never progress with any applicant unless they’ve sought independent legal advice. This is non-negotiable, and it might cost you about €500 for this guidance.
This isn’t about having flawless finances. It’s about affordability and some level of consistency. If you’re paying market rent and feel that you can manage an additional monthly payment – often in lieu of cash you’ve already been saving – you’ll likely tick all of the initial boxes required to proceed with your Homely application. Then, once comfortable with the costs above, we move on to the next phase of our applicant assessment process.
We see that our model works particularly well for people the traditional mortgage system struggles to accommodate, including:
Non Standard or Early Stage Income Recently self-employed workers, contractors, and people with variable or foreign income often earn enough to afford a home but fall short of rigid mortgage rules, especially where there are less than three years of company accounts available.
Complex Household Income Many families have blended or non standard income structures that make mortgage approval harder than it should be, even where the household can comfortably afford monthly costs. Divorce can also play havoc on a family’s financial situation.
Can Afford the Home but Not the Deposit This includes first time buyers and single buyers who earn well but have not yet saved a full deposit, or who plan to rent a room to help cover monthly costs while building toward ownership.
Banks often need years of clean paperwork before they’ll lend to some types of applicants. We focus on whether a home is affordable for each applicant now, and whether there’s a realistic path to mortgage approval over the next three to five years.
How does Homely help in the current housing crisis?
Firstly, Homely helps our customers move from renting to owning but in the current crisis, particularly acute in the rental market, Homely helps alleviate some of the shorter term pressures. In many parts of the country there is a severe lack of rental availability, and landlords continue to exit. There has been a complete absence of meaningful buy-to-let investment outside of the larger cities in Ireland. Homely helps create a rental option for those who can’t buy in areas where there is little choice, and also gives the renter the opportunity to purchase the property after as little as 3 years. Homely’s landlord product helps keep landlords in the market, as they gradually sell their properties to their tenants, and also helps make development viable. Homely unlocks rent to own demand in the parts of the country where we can deliver supply, think commuter towns and lesser populated areas. There may be limited mortgage approved buyers in these areas, and no institutional rental bid to help deliver homes – but Homely makes development viable buy unlocking this demand, and giving developers the ability to hold on to completed properties while earning rent and retaining prevailing (for now at least!) capital upside.
Does HAP Fit Into the Picture?
HAP is an important and often misunderstood part of Ireland’s housing system, and we get asked about it A LOT. Many on HAP are working, paying rent reliably and managing their lives well, yet they are effectively locked out of the mortgage system. Once you’re on HAP (or certain social supports), lenders can struggle to assess housing costs in a way that supports a future mortgage application.
Rent-to-own can help some people transition off HAP and back into the private market, and eventually into ownership, but only in the right circumstances. To be clear:
- Homely does not replace HAP
- We technically can accept HAP to assist toward your rent payment
- However, most mortgage lenders will not account for HAP when looking at your ability to afford monthly mortgage payments (your affordability test)
Our team will never place someone into a home they cannot afford, long-term. And we will never place someone into the programme where we feel there’s a low likelihood of them being mortgage ready well in advance of the three to five year programme period.
For those reasons, the vast majority of applicants who come to us asking if we accept HAP, we usually have to decline. For people whose income supports it – and who are ready to move on from HAP – rent-to-own can act as a bridge, with ownership as the end goal rather than indefinite renting.
It is worth noting that if HAP supports went into rent-to-own structures, instead of purely into the private rental market, it would serve a far better use of government funds, giving many HAP tenants an incentive and opportunity to gradually own a property of their own, and also chip in with additional payments along the way.
What About Help to Buy?
Help to Buy only applies to new homes, and the definition of “new” is strict. Once a home has been purchased or lived in by anyone, it no longer qualifies.
That creates a problem for rent to own. When Homely buys a newly built home, it immediately falls outside the Help to Buy scheme, even if the customer moves in straight away and is the only person who has ever lived there. As a result, someone can spend years in a brand new home, become mortgage ready, and still be excluded from Help to Buy when they are ready to buy in a few years.
This is not about risk or behaviour. It is simply how the legislation is drafted. Help to Buy is meant to help first time buyers with deposits. Period. Rent to own is meant to help people reach the point where a mortgage is possible. Right now, the two do not connect, despite being aimed at the same outcome. We will campaign for help to buy to apply to new homes purchased via rent-to-own, and only lived in by one renter. The government has also muted extending help to buy to second hand homes, let’s see how that evolves, with the government’s incremental adjustment housing strategy as more and more pressure and intensity on housing piles on.
What About the First Home Scheme?
The First Home Scheme is mainly designed for people buying a new home or building their own. It also allows for tenant in situ purchases, where a renter buys the home they already live in if the landlord decides to sell it directly to them.
Rent to own works differently. Homely buys the home upfront as part of a long term pathway to ownership, and the customer moves in under a tenancy with a separate purchase option agreed from day one. Technically, there is no landlord exit or sale event triggering the purchase later on.
Because the scheme’s tenant in situ route is built around a landlord selling to a tenant as part of an exit, it does not sit neatly with rent to own. Even where a customer meets all the criteria, the scheme may not apply. This feels less like a policy choice and more like a gap between how the rules were drafted and how people actually move from renting to owning today.
Remember The Long-Term Upside
Rent-to-own only makes sense if you genuinely want to own a home and, more specif. It’s not a short-term stop-gap for you to see if you like a home or area. At the end of your term, you can benefit from. The aim is simple: to make sure that time spent renting actually counts towards ownership, rather than disappearing into the system.
When Rent-to-Own Is Not the Right Fit
There are many situations where rent-to-own doesn’t make sense.
If you can’t afford the upfront option fee, or if after paying it you are left with zero cash savings, we will not process your application. In those cases, the right answer may be to stay put and focus on saving first (as painful as that might sound).
We encounter many situations where the applicant’s current rent is a massive amount lower than market level. For many in those situations, it’s in fact better to also stay put and keep saving.
If your income is very unstable or you have an unmistakable problem on your credit report, and because of that there’s no realistic path to mortgage approval (in three to five years), rent-to-own won’t fix that. It’s a bridge, not a safety net.
And if you already qualify for a mortgage and can secure a home today, you probably shouldn’t be looking at rent-to-own at all. The model exists only for people the system excludes, not those it already works for.
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Homely exists because too many people in Ireland are stuck between renting and owning. That’s especially true for people coming off social protections, being evicted by their landlords, rebuilding their finances, and navigating non-traditional work. Rent-to-own won’t suit everyone, but for the right people, at the right time, it can turn renting into a clear, fair and realistic path to homeownership.
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And remember, don’t just take our advice! Not only do we only progress with customers who received third party legal advice, but we also ensure that each applicant speaks to a registered financial and mortgage advisor. We tell people up front, if you can get a traditional mortgage – get it! For a small number of the rest, there’s Homely.
Stay tuned for more updates and initiatives as we continue to expand our reach and services, all with the goal of helping more people across the country achieve their dreams of owning their own homes.