Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for the submissions they sent in earlier and for appearing before the joint committee today. A number of Deputies on the committee had indicated to the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, when he brought the heads of the Bill before us, that we were mindful to support and to assist him in trying to get the legislation through before the end of the session. However, we still felt it was important to bring in a range of witnesses to express their view. The Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, appeared before us earlier in the week.

I request the witnesses to record their key concerns with the legislation or suggestions of which we should be mindful in terms of getting the detail of what is being proposed in the heads of the Bill correct. At the centre of the Bill is the two civil sanctions for breaches of the rent pressure zones and the non-registration of tenancies. When the representatives from the Residential Tenancies Board were before us, one of their points was that while they welcome these additional policing powers, they have a problem with data because while people register their tenancies they do not necessarily update that information with the RTB if there is no subsequent Part 4 tenancy. Therefore, the board's ability to police, even with the new legislative framework, will be dependent on having a lot of good quality data. The RTB suggested as an additional amendment to the Bill, an annual registration but not necessarily with the current registration fee for a tenancy. If landlords were required to register the tenancy each year, that would mean the RTB would have up-to-date information on the tenancy, the rent and so on, from which it could extrapolate on whether there were potential breaches in certain areas. Do people think that is a good idea? Do people think it would be a good idea but in certain contexts? I am thinking in particular of the representatives from the Irish Property Owners Association who represent the landlords and how they would see that pan out.

The other issue we discussed was student rent and we wanted representatives of the USI to appear because there has been concern recently about certain student rents. I did a recent radio interview with a property agent from Galway who was arguing strongly for legal clarity on whether student licences are covered under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004. It is almost like some landlords are using the ambiguity to undercut others. I am interested in whether people think this is an opportunity to deal with that matter. Representatives of the RTB were clear when they came before the committee in indicating that student licences are included under the terms of the Act. They were explicit about that and said they were always of that view. They encouraged students to contest cases if they felt landlords were in breach of this. I am interested in people's views on that.

We are not looking to overly burden this legislation but there is an opportunity to revisit some matters, including the Focus Ireland amendment. Too many families have been issued with vacant possession notices to quit. That is continually driving the numbers of families presenting as homeless. Is this an opportune time to deal with such an issue? We will have a further opportunity later in the year to come back to other matters related to the Residential Tenancies Act but some of us are trying to establish whether one or two additions to this Bill such as the clarification on student accommodation or measures to help prevent family homelessness might be worth considering.