Ms Niamh Randall:

The challenge with the differential rent is that it is administratively heavy in nature. It was introduced with the best intentions of providing very affordable rents and being a fair way to approach it. However, there are some unintended consequences. People living very close together could be paying very different rents because they fall under the remit of different local authorities. Certainly there is a commitment within Housing for All to review this process. We would be very interested in engaging in that process of review, particularly in the context of discovering what it would be replaced with if it were to be brought to an end. We need to ensure that the latter would be something that is very fair for the tenants and the AHBs. Going back to the point about maintenance and retrofitting, we would welcome engagement on the process around that.