John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. Much of what I would like to have said has already been said and I do not want to be repetitive. I will, therefore, concentrate my contribution on two specific areas.

There seems to be an anomaly in the HAP scheme. A property will qualify for the scheme provided it is registered with the Residential Tenancies Board. The RTB registration form does not require evidence of ownership, however. As a result, people involved in criminality can have a property management company register a property with the RTB and the housing assistance payment will then benefit the criminal. We must get rid of that anomaly. The application form for HAP includes a number of ways by which a landlord can provide proof of ownership of the property that is the subject of HAP. One of these is by providing evidence of registration with the Residential Tenancies Board. This needs to be removed. The only acceptable evidence should be evidence of payment of the local property tax, which must include the name of the owner of the property. The Minister should look into that matter. I have a fundamental problem with any element of criminality benefitting from HAP and other State payments. This practice also creates problems for local authorities when they try to deal with unscrupulous landlords because when they telephone property management companies, they get nowhere. We can do a little work on that.

The other side of the coin in respect of HAP is anti-social behaviour by tenants. For example, a property rented to two people may have ten people living in it. The current legislation does not allow local authorities to act in such circumstances. The HAP makes reference to the issue but there is nothing in legislation to support agencies that are trying to do something about it. The RTB will investigate and will probably find anti-social behaviour is taking place and the tenants should either be removed or some form of action should be taken against them, but there is nothing in legislation to help.

Practical steps on the issues I have raised regarding landlords and unscrupulous tenants would help. Not every landlord is a bad landlord and not every tenant is a bad tenant. In fact, the opposite is the case - the vast majority of landlords are good landlords and the vast majority of tenants are good tenants. We seem to find ourselves legislating for the minority on both sides, although I suppose that is our job.

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