Mr. Niall Byrne:

That proposal, an NCT for rental properties, has been advanced by Threshold and some of the other advocacy organisations. The idea is that the landlord would have some suitable person assess the property and on the basis of that it would be deemed good enough or not good enough to come on the rental market. It is an interesting idea. We are all interested in high quality accommodation. Nobody should be living in sub-standard or overcrowded accommodation.

The difficulty with the current standards regime is that it is very much a pass or fail system. If there is one item that is at odds with the standards, the entire property fails. Some of us have experience of other regulatory regimes, carrying out inspections against other kinds of standards and regulations. Normally, one operates to a system of fully compliant, compliant, substantially compliant, partially compliant or non-compliant. It is on that basis that one tries to regulate areas that are governed by regulatory standards of different kinds. The current standards regime is very black and white. For example, the absence of a working microwave means the entire property fails. That is easily remedied but if a property has a lot of damp and mould, those things are very difficult to remedy. However, it might not even be seen on an inspection. It might only turn up later as an issue for the tenant. Then it comes in to us as a dispute.

It is a really important area to draw attention to and very important for the committee. It is not directly a matter for the RTB. The RTB would support wider reform of the current standards regime and perhaps the introduction of a more nuanced approach but which maintains a very strong focus on the outcome for the person who is living in the property. The current standards are highly prescriptive. They are drawn very tightly and I wonder whether they always capture all of the subtle issues that arise in a property which mean it good enough or not good enough for the people who live there.