Ms Louise Loughlin:

Yes, I can take the question about withholding deposits and the Senator's last question about the local authorities. As stated, we have the 2023 figures. Some 16% of cases in 2023 for the dispute resolution service related to deposit retention. There were 1,606 applications to the RTB. That is quite similar to previous years. The percentage in 2021 was 19% and in 2022 it was 16%, the same as last year. It is kind of steady. The dispute application types are fairly consistent year on year; they do not really change that much.

Regarding the notice of termination, generally what happens is the decision on whether a notice of termination is valid or invalid can ultimately only be made in a dispute case by an adjudicator or at a tribunal. It is not really the function of the RTB to determine whether an NOT is valid. However, people often come to us with queries on NOTs and whether they are valid. We also frequently receive such queries from Oireachtas Members. There is probably a piece of work for us to do on that with regard to improving communication around it.

We do talk to local authorities all the time. There is a lot of informal contact about people's situations. Often, there will be a request to confirm whether an NOT is valid. All we can really confirm - Ms Crimin might confirm some of this for me from her side - is that it has been served validly.