Ms Rosalind Carroll:

I thank the Chair and the members of the committee for inviting the Residential Tenancies Board here today to discuss the Residential Tenancies (Student Rents, Rights and Protections) Bill. I am joined by my colleague, Janette Fogarty, head of enforcement and legal affairs.

This is a very difficult time for students and in the housing market as a whole, with issues around supply and affordability. There have been significant increases for students, which have caused worries for the students themselves and for their families who have to support them. It can also impact on their studies.

It is important to understand the current position in respect of the law. There can be misunderstandings and I do not want people to go away from this meeting thinking there are no rights for people. The Residential Tenancies Act applies where a tenancy is in place. This includes students renting from a private landlord, for example in a house share with other students or friends, and private, purpose-built student accommodation where a tenancy exists. We believe that this incorporates the majority of private purpose-built student accommodation. It does not cover student accommodation that is provided and managed by an educational institution which is a public authority, nor does it apply where people are renting through the rent-a-room scheme.

One of the main issues is that there is often confusion between licences and tenancies. Many accommodation agreements are called licence agreements, but in practice they are tenancies. Just because something is named as something does not mean that is what it is - it has to act as such in a material way. A licence can be defined as permission to enter or occupy a dwelling. It typically refers to a hotel, a hostel or a shared house. We have a number of disputes over the question of something being a licence as opposed to a tenancy and people tend to relate it to commercial law, whereas we talk about residential law, which is very different. Licences do not come within our remit and people who offer them are not required to register with us. In cases of licences, a dispute cannot be referred to us. However, there are very limited circumstances in which a licence can occur in the market. It is really important that students understand this and are encouraged to bring a case to the RTB for a determination on the matter. Unfortunately, not many have done so and we recognise that there is an information deficit in this area and some confusion in the market. When they have done this, however, students have proved that what they have is a tenancy agreement.

One of the key weaknesses at the moment, in the area of our registration powers, is that we cannot proactively enforce registrations of tenancies across the market. We do not have investigation powers but the Bill being put forward by the Department will give us those powers and will enable us to go out and question people as to what are those licence agreements or tenancy agreements. This is an important first step to enable us to test the law.

In respect of the Bill before us today, we support reform in this area, particularly given the increased student-specific accommodation that is coming down the line. However, we believe a lot of the law already covers what is in the Bill. It is about clarification and strengthening the law. We recognise that there is uncertainty and a lack of transparency and students often do not know whether they are licensees or tenants. We will work with the new legislation coming from the Department and we have worked closely with the Department on the issues in question. If this particular Bill is enacted, we would suggest some changes to strengthen it. In that respect, there are three points we would raise. The first is a definition of student-specific accommodation. Does it include a house share in which there are four students, as opposed to something that has been designed for students? Other properties are refurbished by private companies and used as student-specific accommodation. There are many nuances to this that would need to be sorted out to avoid grey areas. It is also important to have a definition of a student to clearly set out who qualifies.

We believe the issue of security of tenure also needs to be considered further. Under Part 4 of the Residential Tenancies Act, tenants get security of tenure rights after six months, which entitles them to a further five and a half years' occupation subject to specific grounds that allow a landlord to end a tenancy. A provision in section 25 of the Act means this does not apply to student-specific accommodation but it was specifically linked with section 50 accommodation, which was a revenue-supported tax scheme. This scheme has now gone so the provision no longer applies and the matter needs to be looked at again. Student-specific accommodation needs to remain within a nine-month term.

The third area comprises technical amendments which have to ability to trip us up as we try to implement the legislation.

One example of this is the issue of multiple occupancies. With most purpose-built student accommodation there might be six units within one self-contained unit. We believe that the legislation would benefit from clarification to say that this was six different tenancies and not one tenancy. Otherwise, in implementing rent pressure zone legislation we are dealing with a one-tenancy situation. This would cause a huge degree of confusion in implementation. These are some of the technical amendments that the Residential Tenancies Board believes warrant further consideration.

We welcome the forthcoming legislation from the Department and from this area, once the overall areas that we have just outlined are addressed. There is an opportunity for us to try to test this a little bit more in respect of the investigation powers we are getting. Ultimately, we want the law to work and to work well, and that we would take the time to consider all of these issues. I am aware that we are in an extremely pressurised environment, particularly for those people who are living in those accommodations. It is about trying to balance those two things. Perhaps we could take some consideration of these matters.