Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

This issue has been a running sore for a long time, namely, the withholding of the deposits of tenants in private rented accommodation. While this problem has been around for many decades nothing has been done to address it. The problem arises because very often landlords retain tenants' deposits or part thereof, often on spurious grounds such as damage to property, unpaid utility bills or a failure of the tenant to pay all rental income on time and so on. This is the largest issue of complaint by tenants to Threshold, which published its annual report last week, and the Private Rented Tenancies Board, PRTB. Threshold and the PRTB say they have a 75% success rate when they take up this issue with landlords. In other words, when representation is made and pressure is applied to the landlords, they acknowledge that perhaps they should not have retained the full deposit or part thereof.

This is a running sore and it is also a serious matter for people in the Dublin area where rents have not decreased even though house prices have decreased significantly, by 50%. Nearly all rental accommodation suitable for a couple or a family with a child or two, costs in the region of €800 to €1,200 a month. A person on rent supplement allowance will not receive this amount from the community welfare officer. A student, for example, who does not get back the deposit is unable to meet the cost of a fresh deposit.

An independent structure is required and this has been a recommendation for some time. An independent body could be the PRTB or a local authority or another third party. This body could hold the deposits paid rather than the landlords holding them. A deposit does not belong to the landlord but rather it belongs to the tenant. There should be an independent body in place to receive the deposit so that when the tenant moves on, it would adjudicate on whether some part of the deposit should be retained by the tenant or given to the landlord.

I ask the Minister to recognise the serious grievance of so many people. Hundreds of thousands of people live in rented accommodation. I ask that the necessary legislation be introduced to set up such an independent, third party body to retain deposits.

See this speech in context