Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I will begin roughly where I left off. I was making the point that where the tenant has not paid the rent, the PRTB has not the power to terminate the tenancy unless the landlord has served notice of termination. Where the notice of termination is invalid, the landlord must re-serve the notice and wait out the notice period before getting possession of the dwelling. If the tenant challenges the second notice, there is a further waiting period before the matter is finally resolved, with the landlord not receiving any rent during this time, in some cases, as I stated already, if the tenant remains in situ, for over a year. While the PRTB endeavours to prioritise all cases where rent is not being paid under the current law, it has no power to terminate the tenancy regardless of the behaviour of the tenant.

These new provisions will allow the PRTB to deal effectively and quickly with tenants who do not comply with their statutory obligation to pay rent during the dispute process.

Under this new procedure, a landlord may apply for relief only where a dispute has been referred to the PRTB and the tenant has ceased to pay rent. This application will be fast-tracked and deal only with the non-payment of rent issue. The original dispute will be dealt with in the usual way at a later date. The amendments provide that the PRTB must endeavour to ensure a complaint under this new procedure is dealt with as soon as is reasonably practicable and notice periods for disputes and appeals have been shortened to allow complaints under this procedure to be dealt with as quickly as possible, while still giving due notice to the parties involved. However, the tenant will still be entitled to notice of the making of the application and, following this, will have a minimum of ten days notice of the hearing of the application. The mediation provisions under the Bill will not apply to this procedure, as this would introduce a further step in the process and result in further delay.

I have also provided that the PRTB must provide six monthly reports for me on the progress of this new procedure for the first year of its operation. Thereafter, reports on the procedure must be made in the PRTB's annual report which, as members know, is laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas every year. I am sure we have all been in receipt of correspondence from constituents who are at their wits' end trying to pay a mortgage on a rental property where the tenant will not pay the rent. I am confident this new procedure will give the PRTB the power and means to deal quickly and effectively with that small number of tenants who blatantly disregard their statutory obligation to pay rent during a dispute. This may require some discussion.