Rebecca Moynihan (Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the contributors both for their opening statement but also for the very interesting findings of the survey they did with landlords. It is funny when we talk about things like this because political differences very much show up, particularly when it comes to landlords leaving the market. My focus is not to try to ascertain why landlords are leaving the market but rather to ensure people who are renting have availability and access to both secure, affordable rentals, and that is the position we should be coming from.

I wish to gather information on the turnaround time for disputes. New changes to the residential tenancies legislation mean that if landlords, for example, give a notice for eviction and do not sell within nine months, they have to offer that tenancy back, but I know some tenants who feel they have not been offered the tenancy back or that they have moved on and found somewhere else at that stage. In effect, this change makes no difference for them. What, therefore, is the turnaround time for disputes, especially where it relates to evictions either on the basis of intending to sell, moving a family member in, or substantial renovations? One of the things that is clearly emerging is we simply do not have enough good data on the private rental sector in Ireland on numbers, breakdowns, unregistered tenancies, the type of tenancies people have, what people are looking for and where the demand is.

Do we have any indications of how many people in the private rental sector who are registered with the RTB are accessing payments through the housing assistance payment, HAP, the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, or supported State tenancies? Where a notice to evict is served, is there any engagement with local authorities or does the Residential Tenancies Board consider, outside of the legislative framework, that there could be engagement with local authorities in asking a question on the form for the RTB and the RTB then contacting the local authority to say a notice to quit has been served at the RTB and the person in question is a HAP or RAS tenant or whatever the case may be?

Have any comparative studies been done? There is the dispute resolution role of the RTB, there is the registration role, and there is the data-gathering role of that body, but there is also probably scope for an informed policy role for the RTB. I understand the body cannot formulate policy and it can give information, but what about comparative studies on EU tenant rights and other regulatory systems that are in place in the EU, together with other rights renters would have in the EU which we do not necessarily have in Ireland? Will our contributors give us a sense of what other communication takes place specifically within a European Union context, or within other regulatory frameworks, that the RTB consider might work well in Ireland?