Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Where a landlord seeks to invoke this exemption, the rent will not be treated as a small thing. A number of different documents will have to be lodged to prove the landlord has done it. I understand the concerns about whether a landlord might address just the BER or the layout. A combination of three of the four factors I laid out would have to be accomplished, or a 25% extension to the floor space. I understand the point about the BER jumping by two points. What if a landlord was doing something significant that was not disability adaptation, but changed the layout, added an extra room and went up by a BER grade, but could not go up by three points because it might take the property beyond A1 or maybe to A1, which might not be seen as necessary and the landlord might not want to incur the costs? If it were just two points on the BER scale, if it is coming from a low BER, simple insulation in the attic might address that and I would be concerned about it.

The RTB issued guidance about what it would consider to be a change of layout, renovation and such. I will refer to that briefly. When we talk about a change of layout or structural alteration, those include attic conversion, garage conversion, the change of a ground floor bedroom to improve the layout of a property and so on. We are not talking about changing tiles on the floors but about the movement of walls to create rooms. An example I gave earlier is turning a garage into living space, whether a bedroom, a playroom, a living room or even a kitchen. That is significant work. We talked about some of the investments that might be made to improve the BER. Attic insulation is not very expensive but cavity wall or dry lining can be, as can external wall insulation. Maybe the boiler, the pipework, the radiators or the cylinder are being replaced or maybe one is doing the windows and doors. Those types of investment are expensive but we are not asking for them to be done on their own. They have to meet three of the four criteria or a 25% extension. They then have to have surveyors and architects sign off and give documentation to the RTB which will then adjudicate and state that the clause has been invoked in the right way.

We think it is a vast improvement on not having a definition. We came with a definition because the committee looked for a definition. In the conversations we have had at the committee about the previous definition, some of the problems we and others saw in the definition were highlighted, and we have now come with what we think is a more robust definition.