Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is important to note when one looks through every section of the Bill that it is composed of new measures to help and protect tenants. Some of the big criticisms of the Bill have come from landlords who say it is all pro-tenant and there is nothing in it for them. Big changes are coming in terms of new qualifying criteria for rent pressure zones and the Bill closes some of the perceived loopholes for those entities that have been stepping out of rent pressure zones, furthering the notice-to-quit periods, which is important in terms of housing security and all the other measures that are contained in the Bill.

There are a number of different advocates in the housing space and they do not always agree. That is why the role of the Minister is to make a judgment call. In this instance Threshold might say one thing and another group might be concerned as to whether a measure is necessary or if the burden could be managed immediately by a body or the RTB. I weigh up those issues and I make the decision. My view is that verification is here in terms of the documentation that needs to be provided and the very detailed undertakings that a landlord would have to go through in order to even apply for an exemption, and when he or she does that the RTB now has a power to undertake its own independent inspection where it feels that a landlord may be in breach, and if that is the case, there are significant penalties that did not exist previously if a landlord has breached or knowingly misled the RTB. That is a significant change in terms of what was there beforehand. The power is there for the RTB to make an inspection but to make it mandatory in every single instance where that is sought to be invoked is too much of a burden on the RTB, given the extra powers and resources we are giving to it. In cases where it is not necessary, moreover, it adds an unnecessary workload on the RTB. Its time and resources would be better spent chasing landlords it knows to be in breach not just of the law pertaining to renting out a property but in some instances in breach of human rights law in terms of overcrowding or accommodation that is not habitable in any sense but which they are trying to rent out and make money from. For those reasons I cannot accept the amendment.

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