Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 267: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that local authorities have not carried out a sufficient number of inspections of rented private residential properties in order to draw from a specific fund of some €10 million collected by the Private Residential Tenancies Board from registration fees charged to property owners; the location of this fund and if it is in an interest bearing account; if he is satisfied that the inspections required under legislation have not been or will not be carried out; if he will sponsor an amendment or new legislation to allow these accumulated funds to be used to defray the administrative costs of the PRTB now that it is no longer in receipt of Exchequer funding; if he will also sponsor an amendment or new legislation to provide a compensation fund for property owners who are unable to collect awards to them by appeals tribunals when tenants have not discharged their liability; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45869/10]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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Minimum standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008, made under section 18 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992. All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with these regulations. Responsibility for enforcing the regulations rests with the relevant local authority, supported by a dedicated stream of funding allocated by my Department.

This funding increased significantly between 2005 and 2009, rising from €1.5m to €4m. For 2010 I have allocated a total sum of €5.6m to housing authorities for the purpose of carrying out their functions under the Housing Acts in relation to rented accommodation. This is an increase of €1.6m on the amount allocated for this purpose in 2009 and will bring total funding for this purpose since 2004 to over €20m. Funding for 2010 will be paid using a combined methodology based on the number of inspections carried out by each housing authority and on additional funding being provided for once-off strategically-planned programmes of inspection which may be carried out by housing authorities in addition to their usual inspection activity.

The funds in question arise from part of the proceeds of tenancy registration fees and are held by the PRTB, in an interest earning account, in a fiduciary capacity. The apportionment of the tenancy registration fee is made by Ministerial Order under the provisions of section 176 of the Act and as such these fees are ring fenced for specific functions of local authorities. In July 2010, I issued a Ministerial Order directing that 80% of the fees received by the PRTB be retained by that organisation with the remaining 20% share to be allocated to the local authorities. Full details of the amounts collected, paid out and held by the PRTB are published each year in their Annual Report and Accounts.

Details of the inspections of private rented accommodation carried out, the dwellings inspected which did not meet the statutory standards and prosecutions initiated up to 2009 on a county/city basis are included in my Department's Annual Housing Statistics Bulletins, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas Library and on my Department's website at www.environ.ie.

In general, local authorities have significantly expanded their inspection activity in recent years with the number of inspections increasing by almost 300% – from 6,815 to 19,801 - in the period 2005 to 2009. The 2009 data show a year on year increase in the number of inspections carried out of approximately 15%, to 19,801 inspections, and this further significant increase reflects the positive impact of the overall Action Programme on Standards, including increased funding, introduced on foot of a commitment in the Towards 2016 social partnership agreement, and progress with the implementation of the Rental Accommodation Scheme.

However, in earlier years when local authorities' inspections figures were considerably lower, a reserve of unused funds accumulated and, at the end of 2009, the reserve that was held in a fiduciary capacity by the PRTB for the local authorities stood at €9,374,608. Increased funding allocations in 2010 with a specific focus on targeted intensive inspection programmes, combined with the revised apportionment of the PRTB tenancy registrations fee income, should reduce this reserve considerably by end-2011. It is a matter for each individual local authority to decide the specific details of its enforcement strategy and inspection arrangements. In discharging their responsibilities in relation to the rental sector, authorities have been asked to have regard to the Good Practice Guidelines for Local Authorities on Standards in the Private Rented Sector: Strategic Planning, Effective Enforcement published by the Centre for Housing Research in November 2007, which makes a range of recommendations on relevant issues, including targeting inspection activities.

In November 2009 I announced the preliminary outcomes of my review of the Residential Tenancies Act which regulates the tenant-landlord relationship in the private residential rented sector. These outcomes include recommendations in a number of key areas, with an overall emphasis on streamlining and simplifying the Act, reducing delays and achieving additional operational efficiencies and consequent savings by the PRTB in the delivery of its functions. While a range of issues still remain to be considered, full details in relation to the background to the review, the associated terms of reference and the preliminary results of the review are available on my Department's website, www.environ.ie .

Among the main issues that I hope to address in the amending legislation are.

· A statutory objective of 6 months to be set for the issuing of determination orders arising out of dispute resolution applications.

· The Board of the PRTB to be reduced from 15 to 12 members.

· The introduction of fixed fines where deposits are illegally retained by landlords.

· Measures to address non-payment of rent by tenants during a dispute process, in particular to introduce scope for the legal termination of such a tenancy.

· The separation of the governance and quasi-judicial functions of the Board.

· The inclusion within the remit of the Residential Tenancies Act of segments of the voluntary and co-operative housing sector that most closely parallel the current remit of the Board.

I do not intend to establish any compensation fund for parties to disputes to the PRTB. Instead my focus is to ensure that the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants are respected and to further enhance the broader good working of the private rented sector. It is my intention to have the General Scheme of a Bill amending the Residential Tenancies Act before the Government very shortly.