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

In any sphere of life, it is always better to do that. In regard to registration enforcement in respect of which the board has to resort to the courts, the brief states that a District Court summons is issued for failure to comply with a second notice and that landlords are given ample opportunity to mend their hand before a summons to court is issued. That is fair enough. When the matter proceeds to court, the judge tends to look more favourably on the landlord who has since rectified the issue. On most occasions, once a landlord engages with the RTB cases are adjourned to allow the landlord to register a tenancy. In the instance where a landlord is fully compliant, the judge can direct that the probation Act be applied or a charitable donation be made. There is a weakness there. If I am a landlord, I can go for years without registering or until a complaint is made. When a complaint is made to the RTB, following non-compliance with a second notice the matter enters the legal process through the court. As the court date approaches, I can choose to register. At that point, the worst that will happen is the judge will apply the probation Act or ask me to make a donation to the local branch of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. That is a very weak system. There is no stick in terms of compelling landlords to register. That seems to be a weakness in the system in terms of enforcing registration.

I understand that the RTB has to deal with the legislation and the hand it is dealt with in that regard but there is something in this for all of us. This shows that a landlord can sit on his or her hands for many years and, at the point at which it ends up in the court, register the week beforehand and be deemed to have engaged and thus have the probation Act applied.