Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)

I move amendment No. 11:

In page 11, after line 41, to insert the following:

"10.—(1) Where a landlord requires a tenant, on entering into an agreement for a tenancy or lease, to pay a deposit, the deposit shall be paid by the landlord to the Board at the time of application for registration of the tenancy under Part 7 of the Principal Act and shall be held by the Board until—

(a) an application is made under subsection (3), or

(b) a dispute is referred to the Board for resolution under section 76 of the Principal Act.

(2) A landlord who contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of an offence.

(3) Where a landlord and a tenant jointly apply in the prescribed form for the repayment of a deposit by the Board to—

(a) the tenant,

(b) the landlord, or

(c) in part to the tenant and in part to the landlord,

the Board shall promptly repay the deposit in the manner specified in the application.

(4) Section 78 of the Principal Act is amended, in subsection (1), by substituting the following for paragraph (a):

"(a) the repayment of a deposit held by the Board to the tenant or the

landlord or in part to each of them,".

(5) A dispute in respect of matters referred to in section 78(1)(a) of the Principal Act that is referred to the Board for resolution shall be determined in accordance with the following principles:

(a) no amount of the deposit concerned shall be required to be repaid to the tenant if, at the date of referral of the dispute to the Board, there is a default in—

(i) the payment of rent and the amount of rent that is in arrears is equal to or greater than the amount of the deposit, or

(ii) compliance with section 16(f) of the Principal Act and the amount of

the costs that would be incurred by the landlord, were he or she to take them, in taking such steps as are reasonable for the purposes of restoring the dwelling to the condition mentioned in the said section 16(f) is equal to or greater than the amount of the deposit;

(b) where, at the date of the referral of the dispute to the Board—

(i) there is a default in the payment of rent or compliance with the said section 16(f), and

(ii) subparagraph (i) or (ii), as the case may be, of paragraph (a) does not apply,

then there shall be repaid—

(I) to the landlord, the amount of rent that is in arrears or, as appropriate, the amount of the costs that would be incurred in taking steps of the kind referred to in paragraph (a)(ii),

(II) to the tenant, the difference between the amount referred to in subparagraph (i) and the deposit;

(c) where neither paragraph (a) or (b) apply, the deposit concerned shall be repaid in full to the tenant.

(6) No provision of any lease, tenancy agreement, contract or other agreement entered into after the commencement of this Act may operate to vary, modify or restrict in any way this section.

(7) Section 12 (1) (d) and (4) of the Principal Act are repealed.

(8) Section 115 of the Principal Act is amended by substituting the following for paragraph (i):

"(i) in the special circumstances of a dispute heard under this Part, a direction that the whole or part of the costs or expenses incurred by the adjudicator or the Tribunal in dealing with the dispute shall be paid by one or more of the parties,

(j) a direction that a specified amount of damages be paid for unreasonably refusing to agree to a joint application for the repayment of a deposit under section 2(3) of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 2009.".".

See this speech in context