Seán Kenny (Dublin North East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This Bill seeks to amend the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 and 2009, and the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009. Its objective is to streamline and simplify those Acts and reduce delays in the dispute resolution service of the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB. The Bill makes provision for the inclusion, within the remit of the Residential Tenancies Acts, of tenancies in the voluntary and co-operative housing sector.

The issues of rent arrears and deposit retention are not addressed in the Bill as published, but the Minister of State has signalled her intention to include these at a later stage in the legislative process. I warmly welcome this initiative.

In its 2011 annual report, Threshold states that it dealt with over 3,000 cases involving the retention of deposits. Deposits may only be retained by landlords in limited circumstances, namely rent arrears, outstanding utility bills or damage to the property above normal wear and tear.

The programme for Government contains a commitment to introduce a rent deposit scheme and legislation is currently before the House to follow through on this important policy goal. The Minister of State has signalled her intention to examine the findings of a PRTB commissioned report into the viability of a deposit protection scheme. That report has been published and examines the options for a deposit protection scheme.

Over the coming weeks, the options in the report will consider the best way to offer the greatest protection to tenants in this area.

This will be done at the least cost to the Exchequer. While these are complex issues, it is important to deliver on deposit protection in the context of the current Bill. Deposit protection schemes exist in a number of countries, such as England, Wales and New Zealand and under such schemes, the deposit is paid directly to a third party and retained until the end of the tenancy.

This Bill will amend certain provisions of the Residential Tenancies Acts, which govern the private rental sector, as well as the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB. One of the PRTB's most important functions is the provision of a dispute resolution service which mediates disputes between landlords and tenants outside of the court system. The largest category of cases referred by landlords to the PRTB, comprising 31% in 2010, relate to rent arrears, while most cases referred by tenants, a total of 72% in 2010, relate to deposit retention. Decisions made through the dispute resolutions service are legally binding. Increasing demands have been placed on the dispute resolution service in recent years, which has resulted in determination orders taking as long as eight months to be delivered. Two of the Bill's aims are to speed up the dispute resolution service provided by the PRTB and bring the voluntary and co-operative housing sector under the governance of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004. A study carried out in 2011 by the Housing Agency examined the implications of bringing the voluntary and co-operative housing sector under the remit of the PRTB. The report identified two potential issues namely, an increase in the workload of the PRTB and the affordability of paying registration fees for the approved housing bodies. It also is intended that the Minister of State will address the issue of non-payment of rent by tenants who remain in situ. This, I understand, will be addressed at Committee Stage of the Bill.

The PRTB was established in September 2004. One of its main functions is, when called upon, to mediate disagreements between landlords and tenants. When a landlord takes on a new tenant he or she must, by law, register the tenancy with the PRTB and include the names and details of the tenants. The landlord pays the PRTB a fee per tenancy. I believe there is a level of non-compliance in this area that must be addressed and I ask the Minister of State to consider this issue. The most common complaints made by tenants are about the refusal of landlords to refund deposits and 72% of all cases taken by tenants in 2010 concerned this issue. As public representatives, Members know this to be true. The most common landlord complaints concern rent arrears and breach of other tenancy obligations and 68% of all cases taken by landlords were regarding these matters. Orders made by the PRTB are legally binding. If a landlord or tenant is dissatisfied with the decision of the board, legal recourse to the High Court is then permitted albeit only on a point of law.

Initially, the PRTB was funded by the Exchequer but it has been self-financing since 2010. From February 2009, properties for rent must meet new minimum physical standards as outlined in the Housing (Standard for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008. Each individual local authority decides on its enforcement strategy and inspection arrangements. The PRTB is currently entitled to retain 80% of the registration fee income to fund its activities with 20% of the fee going to local authorities for inspections of private rented residential accommodation. In its recent submission, the Coolock-based Northside Community Law Centre stated that quite often, the quality of housing in the private rented sector is poor. They cite Threshold in suggesting that up to 78% of private rented property is sub-standard. The PRTB should interface more effectively with local authorities in enforcing standards and I note inspections by many local authorities are slow. Unless adequate resourcing is provided, particularly in light of an increased workload, this issue will continue to be a significant problem. The number of inspections carried out by

local authorities has been increasing in recent years. However, concerns have been expressed as to the outcome of the inspection process and how effectively it protects tenants. In my experience local authorities do not use all of the 20% of the PRTB fees they receive for inspections and instead use the money for general housing expenditure. I believe they only carry out inspections when particular private dwellings are brought to their attention. This must change and a better system of inspections must be put in place by local authorities and, in particular, to inspect the older stock of private rented dwellings, much of which is sub-standard. I ask the Minister of State to consider this issue.

The demand for the dispute resolution services of the PRTB has increased, while the staff numbers working in the PRTB have reduced. The published annual report of the PRTB for 2010 stated that was a challenging year for the disputes resolution service, with an unprecedented 2,230 dispute applications being received, representing an increase of 20% over the 2009 figure. The report goes on to note that most of this increase was due to rent arrears complaints from landlords against tenants. However, it also noted that deposit retention remains the largest overall cause of disputes. In 2010, some 59% of applications for dispute resolution were from tenants, 37% from landlords and 4% from third parties. From 2009 to 2010, there was a 93% increase in tribunal hearings but despite that increase, waiting times for a tribunal hearing have been reduced from six to eight months in 2007 to between two and three months in 2009 and 2010.

This legislation will further improve our system of tenant-landlord regulation. The measures that promote mediation in dispute resolution are particularly welcome. I firmly believe that mediation can give people in a dispute a speedy, effective way to resolve issues. The extension of the registration requirement to a large number of voluntary housing tenancies is also a major development. It is the first step in a process that will see statutory regulation of the voluntary and co-operative housing sector in the coming years. This will bring greater transparency and accountability to this important sector, which is playing an increasingly active role in social housing provision.

Some provisions of this Bill aim to speed up the dispute resolution service. In this context, settling disputes through conference calls may not be permissible in future. Housing associations are non-profit organisations which provide housing for those who are in need and at affordable rent levels. In general they are companies limited by guarantee without a share capital. Approved status is given by the Minister under section 6 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992. While voluntary and co-operative housing is considered as one sector, there are important distinctions between the two, in that voluntary housing is provided by non-profit organisations, whereas housing co-operatives are self-help and jointly-owned member-user associations or societies. The members share responsibility for their co-operative and are represented on the management committees or boards of directors of such companies. The approved housing bodies, AHBs, are not covered under the Residential Tenancies Act. This means that tenants do not have the same rights as private sector tenants and their landlords do not have access to the PRTB. If there is a dispute, the only avenues open to either landlord or tenant are the courts, which may be costly. This can be particularly difficult for social housing tenants, many of whom are in receipt of social welfare benefits.

One of the most significant aspects of the Bill before Members is the inclusion of dwellings let by approved agencies within the remit of the Residential Tenancies Act. This will extend to the large majority of the not-for-profit AHB sector the same range of tenant and landlord rights and obligations as pertain in the private rented sector. I commend the Minister of State and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government with responsibility for housing and planning, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, on the hard work she is doing in this area. I also commend the excellent work done by Threshold on housing rights of the less well-off. I look forward to engaging with them on the housing reform agenda over the course of 2013.

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