Ms Rosalind Carroll:

I thank the Vice Chairman and committee members for the invitation to attend today to discuss the important issue of standards in the private rental sector. I am accompanied today by my colleague, Janette Fogarty, assistant director with responsibility for dispute resolution services. As the committee is aware, the RTB is not directly responsible for the inspection and enforcement of standards in the rental sector. However, as the national public body set up to support and develop a well-functioning rental sector in Ireland, the RTB has, within its broader remit, an important role to play in the quality and standard of rental homes. I will set out the RTB's role in relation to standards and further issues for consideration.

The RTB has 340,000 tenancies registered representing 174,000 landlords and 705,000 occupants. With regard to regulating minimum standards in the sector, the RTB has a number of roles. Since 2004, the RTB has provided funding to local authorities at the direction of the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government to enable them to meet the cost of inspections of private rented accommodation. The total money distributed to date is more €34.5 million, with €1.7 million provided in 2017. Traditionally, one-fifth, or 20%, of the RTB registration fee income was ring-fenced for inspections. However, this was suspended from 1 July 2016 in light of the RTB’s decreasing registration income. Despite this suspension the RTB had already set aside funding from previous years in a trustee capacity for inspections, and another €1.2 million remains available to be drawn down for inspections in the RTB funds.

The RTB also has an important role in relation to standards arising from its dispute resolution function. In addition to the standards for rented housing regulations, there are obligations under the Residential Tenancies Act for landlords to comply with the rental standards and also to carry out all necessary repairs and replacements to rented dwellings. This means that a tenant can refer a dispute to the RTB in relation to the standards and maintenance of the dwelling or breach of landlord obligations or responsibilities. In 2017, 603 cases relating to the standard and maintenance of dwellings were received by the RTB. The nature of these cases vary and range from issues such as mould, damp and pest control to appliances in need of repair or replacement and issues of heating.

To facilitate the local authority inspection programmes to enforce minimum standards, the RTB shares data on registered tenancies and associated details to local authorities on a periodic basis.

As the primary regulator in the sector, the RTB wants to play its role in ensuring a more efficient, standardised and transparent inspection and enforcement process across local authorities. In this regard, there are opportunities to enhance both the RTB and local authority role in data sharing to improve regulation of the rental sector from both a standards and a registration perspective. As a member of the departmental working group on rental standards, the RTB is exploring opportunities to use its capacity around data intelligence to ensure better compliance with minimum standards and the broader regulatory framework.

As a national body with a national database of tenancies, one of the most important roles of the RTB involves education and awareness. We have a broad reach, which allows for consistency of messaging on important issues. In August 2017, following the tragic fire in Grenfell Tower in London, the RTB issued correspondence and an information leaflet to 175,000 landlords to raise awareness of fire safety and the updated minimum standards for rented accommodation. The RTB has also been rolling out targeted campaigns on social media over the past number of months with engagement from local authorities and fire authorities.

The RTB is developing a voluntary landlord accreditation scheme to support landlords to comply with their responsibilities and to increase professionalism within the sector. A key part of the scheme will be to raise awareness and encourage best practice in the management of the homes landlords are providing, including an overview of minimum standards and landlords' obligations with regard to these. The RTB believes that as the accreditation model matures, there is potential for it to be used as a certificate of compliance across all regulatory areas.

To conclude, the issue of minimum standards in rental accommodation is very important. For tenants and their families who are living in poor-quality, unsafe or substandard accommodation, this can have a serious and detrimental impact on their lives. From our perspective, there are two issues to be addressed. First, we need further education and awareness with a consistent approach at a national level to inform landlords and tenants of their rights and obligations. Second, we need to work in partnership and develop better ways of reporting to deal with the very serious issues of overcrowding in rental homes that are below standard or dangerous. It is the RTB's view that we need to find a way to differentiate between these very serious cases and other cases of non-compliance that can be dealt with by working with the relevant parties through education and awareness. At present, our reporting system and regulatory framework does not differentiate between the two and it is important that we have an accurate understanding of the actual levels of non-compliance in the sector and the level of seriousness. The RTB is on the working group on rental standards and is supportive of increased inspections of rental accommodation. We are committed to working together in partnership across regulatory areas in a more cohesive manner.