Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 24 February 2022

Public Accounts Committee

2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Residential Tenancies Board - Financial Statements 2020

9:30 am

Photo of Paul McAuliffePaul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I apologise for interrupting Mr. Byrne but having used up some of my time addressing the omission of a sentence, I want to move on. I apologise if that butchers Mr. Byrne's answers.

I want to turn to the issue of those tenants who may be the subject of a licence rather than a tenancy. As Mr. Byrne knows, most licence arrangements do not come under the remit of the RTB, which means that any tenant in a licensed property does not have the same protections. I am particularly conscious of reports we are receiving in respect of rents in exchange for sexual favours. I raise this issue because there has been coverage of it. Many tenants are very vulnerable in the market. Where there is no exchange of financial consideration in contractual terms, that leaves a tenant incredibly exposed. This should not be happening. What measures is the RTB taking? Technically, that could be a licence arrangement; it is not a tenancy. What steps is the RTB taking to move that from those de facto tenancies? They often last longer than the recommended licence periods. What steps is the RTB taking on that issue, particularly sex for rent, and also the issue of vulnerable tenants who are in a licence arrangement that morphs into a tenancy?