Dáil debates

Wednesday, 8 May 2019

Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018: Report and Final Stages

 

6:25 pm

Photo of Tommy BroughanTommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Amendments Nos. 16 to 20, inclusive, relate to amending the new subsection (2)(a) of section 66 of the 2004 Act. That section provides for the period of notice where sections 67 and 68 of the 2004 Act are not applicable. Section 67 provides for the period of notice for termination by landlord where the tenant is in default, and section 68 provides for a period of notice for termination by tenant where the landlord is in default. Subsection (2)(a) sets out provisions for notice periods following an adjudication or tribunal and the serving of the remedial notice. Subsection (2)(a) in the Bill before us would give just 28 days' notice in a remedial notice, meaning that tenants could go through the process of making a complaint about a notice of termination, an adjudication or tribunal, and then may be issued with a remedial notice which would give just 28 days' notice. The housing advocacy bodies have raised concerns that the shortened timeframe on a remedial notice would act as a deterrent to tenants who question the validity of notices of termination in the first place.

The Minister is familiar with section 66. Amendment No. 16 proposes to delete "28 days" and substitute "90 days". Amendment No. 17 proposes to delete "28 days" in line 7 and substitute "90 days". Amendment No. 18 also proposes to delete "28 days" and substitute "90 days". Amendment No. 19 proposes to delete "28 days" and substitute "60 days". Amendment No. 20 proposes to delete line 34 in page 15 and substitute that where it is less than six months it would be 60 days. Subsection (2)(a) in the legislation before us sets out the circumstances for the notices, but as I said earlier, I tabled the amendments because the 28 days' notice is not sufficient in the current rental crisis. Nobody could possibly source alternative, affordable accommodation in the location they require within 28 days of being given a remedial notice of termination.

Threshold's original analysis of this Bill raised serious concerns about this section. It said:

The Bill, if enacted, would provide that a tenant who challenged a notice of termination could have only 28 days to vacate their home and find another property despite the notice having been found to be invalid, and the tenant having been vindicated by the RTB adjudicator. Clearly in the current rental market 28 days is a very short length of time to source another property, and this is especially true for tenants in receipt of HAP.

That is if they can get HAP in the first place. According to Threshold and other housing bodies, the overall effect of these provisions will be to discourage tenants from challenging these notices and may lead to an increase in people presenting as homeless, having failed to secure alternative accommodation in the period allowed.

I note that Deputy Ó Broin suggested substituting 90 days for 28 days in the table. I can understand the logic behind that suggestion. Regarding the reference to student accommodation, which is that students must be given no less than 28 days, under the amendments relating to students, some provisions of the Act do not apply to them so they will not be covered by everything, for example, Part 4. Consequently, it makes sense for some of the provisions not to apply to them given the short-term nature of these tenancies, which generally are term-time tenancies. However, people feel that 28 days is a very short period. Even 40 or 45 days would have been beneficial but in the current rental climate, as I mentioned earlier to the Minister, 28 days is simply not sufficient.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.