Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their attendance. My questions concern how the witnesses perceive the implementation of this legislation by the RTB, should it be progressed.

The first thing to say is that I have a couple of issues with the letter the Minister sent out to the committee. I do not agree that there should be a 4% increase in the rent at all. It is far above inflation, which is the reality and this was said at the time. We should not just blithely accept that the rate should stay at what the other rate was, which was agreed a year and a half ago. There is no justification for 4% rent increase and people are not necessarily getting wage increases of that order. There is no excuse for heating the rented sector any more.

The issue I have is that the RTB's very good figures show that in Dublin, rent is about 50% higher than the national average, which I believe should be noted. The increase that has taken place is almost double the 4% limit. Why that is the case? Presumably, a lot of those are new tenancies etc. but there is no question but that a lot of them are not. Many landlords are driving a coach and horses through this legislation as it stands. At the time of the legislation's passage, we tabled a series of amendments, one of which was similar in some ways to what is proposed, albeit not as strong, whereby a landlord would be obliged to produce a certificate of what the rent should be from the RTB. Nobody who is queueing up with 50 other people to try to get a place to rent, particularly in Dublin and these rent pressure zones, is in any way strong enough to challenge a landlord about the rent that is being charged. That is just the reality of it. How is this going to change now? It would be easier if the onus was on the landlord to produce a statement of what the rent should be. The RTB say here that it will publish a list of rents for an area. Will a prospective tenant, queueing up for a property in Rathmines or wherever, know what the rent rate is for Nos. 1 to 3 Oakview Lane or wherever it is? It is only when we get down to the person renting having that power that we can keep the rents below a certain level.

The other issue concerns the scenario when a complaint is received. I note the RTB itself also can initiate a complaint, which is obviously good. How serious must that complaint be? Can the witnesses clarify that? Would this involve a breach in rent or a breach in the other aspects of tenancy like the conditions etc.? As it seems quite onerous, how would the investigation be conducted? Will somebody from the RTB call up to the house and talk to the tenant or the landlord? How serious does this have to be? The reason I ask is that staffing would have to be dramatically increased.

I also wanted to ask if any cases had been taken already under the Dublin RPZ legislation. I know lots of people take cases to the RTB but how many cases has the RTB had for breaches of the rules so far? While statutory powers have now been given to the RTB, it has existing powers if a landlord goes above the prescribed rent in an area. Have many people have taken cases?