Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Turning to top-ups, I understand it is tenancies that the RTB registers. Even so, the week before last, I met the first tenant I have met in six months who is not paying a top-up in County Laois. I mentioned this to the representatives of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage who appeared before the committee last week. She is a HAP tenant in Mountmellick. She will soon have to pay a top-up given her rent is due to increase by 37%, although admittedly it has not increased for three years. I have seen the notice. She is terrified of complaining to the RTB because it will mean potentially losing the tenancy. She does not live in a rent pressure zone. I have not met anyone else in my constituency office in the past six months who is not paying a top-up. She was the first. I always ask people whether they pay a top-up and the answer, 99.9% of the time, is that they do. We seem to be powerless. On foot of the answers our guests have given, I accept that the board is not really in a position to do anything about that, although if rent increases are excessive or beyond what is in the market in a given area, it is in a position to act. The woman was handed two sheets of paper that show recent examples of the highest relets in the general area and her new rent is pegged against, or in the region of, that. I am not sure what case she has, therefore, but I thought I should mention it.

According to my brief, a total of 297,000 tenancies have been registered with the RTB. The number of private tenancies according to the Central Statistics Office, CSO, however, is 320,000 or 330,000. Is that correct?