Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to share time with Deputy John Paul Phelan. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important legislation. The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 and the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2009 provide the regulatory framework for the private rented residential sector and the operation of the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB. I welcome the amending Bill, which extends the remit of the Act to tenancies in the voluntary housing sector, streamlines and simplifies administrative processes, reduces the size of the board from 15 to 12 members and introduces measures to increase the take-up of mediation services. I welcome that the Minister of State has pointed out that she is prepared to include other issues related to housing on Committee Stage. In that regard, I welcome her opening remarks.

In the context of the legislation, I want to bring one issue to the attention of officials and the Minister of State. I refer to the anomaly whereby the structures and tools available to the authorities in dealing with anti-social behaviour in private rented accommodation are not robust enough. In some cases, State bodies are providing rent supplement without vetting or investigation of prospective tenants. A blank cheque is issued, which is not the case when local authorities provide housing. A minority of tenancies cause serious problems but their impact on everyone else is increasingly significant. The issue must be dealt with.

In July, the following notice of motion was unanimously passed by Ennis Town Council, having been proposed by Independent Councillor Michael Guilfoyle:

That Ennis Town Council write to our Clare Oireachtas members to ask them to put in place legislation that would protect tenants in rented accommodation from unscrupulous landlords, and in turn landlords be made accountable for the behaviour of their tenants. The H.S.E. should be instructed to view a tenancy agreement prior to sanctioning rent subsidy.

We need to see more action taken. The notice of motion sums it up and I forwarded it to the Minister of State who indicated she would take action and that this Bill could be used as a vehicle to it address the anomaly. All local authorities have adopted anti-social behaviour strategies in accordance with the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009. Each strategy applies to the administration by a council of dwellings in its ownership, dwellings subject to rental accommodation availability agreements and tenants' purchases of dwellings. However, the strategy does not apply to private rented accommodation and, therefore, councils have no legislative powers in this regard. Rent supplement is administered by the community welfare service, which is attached to the Department of Social Protection. The community welfare service is only responsible for the payment of rent supplement and is not responsible for dealing with anti-social behaviour. Responsibility for rent supplement will be transferred to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government over the coming years. I ask that the standards applied to local authority housing be brought to bear immediately on those associated with rent supplement. As it stands, anti-social behaviour in private rented accommodation is a matter for individual landlords and the Garda Síochána. This is not a sufficiently robust system. The Garda Síochána and landlords say they need the help of the people affected by anti-social behaviour in order to do something. I can understand this perspective but it is difficult to act as a witness or complainant in the circumstances where one must continue to live beside those about whom one has complained. The current tools are not robust enough.

I asked the Minister of State to examine best practice elsewhere in Europe, how one becomes a tenant there and the vetting standards elsewhere. According to the 2011 census, the private rental sector houses some 19% of all households. Of 305,000 households in the private rented market, 92,000, or 31% of the market, involves rent supplement. In broad terms, I welcome the Bill as it has been presented but I ask the Minister of State to revisit the legislation on Committee Stage with a view to applying standards applicable to local authorities to the private rented accommodation sector, which will come under the remit of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in the near future.

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