Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage but I also appear as a constituency TD. I am well aware of the issue of mould, particularly for HAP tenants in the private rental sector. Before coming to the House, such is the importance of the issue to me, I went through my constituency database to pull out those files where I have had to deal with this issue with constituents. I am very well aware of the issue the Deputy has raised, which is in the private rental sector and which we will discuss as distinct from the social housing sector.

From the Department's perspective regarding the standards for rental accommodation, the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 set out in detail the standards of accommodation required, including with regard to structural repair, sanitary facilities, heating, ventilation, natural light and fire safety. These regulations apply to all properties let or available for letting, including social housing. The standards on ventilation cover the potential issue of mould. Where dampness or mould is caused by water ingress, regulation 4 requires that a rented dwelling is maintained in a proper state of structural repair. Where such problems are caused by insufficient ventilation, regulation 8 requires every habitable room to have adequate ventilation and that adequate ventilation for the removal of water vapour is provided from every kitchen and bathroom. The responsibility for the enforcement of the regulations in the private rental sector rests with the relevant local authority. Local authorities also have significant powers of enforcement in cases where non-compliance is found.

Housing for All set an annual target of 25% for the inspection of all private residential tenancies and that has gone up considerably over time. From 2005 to 2017, an average of 20,000 inspections were conducted per annum. The figure was 19,500 in 2017 and went up to more than 40,000 in 2019, the period when Eoghan Murphy was in the Department of housing. However, the pandemic saw the number of inspections fall back to 25,000 in 2020 and to 20,000 in 2021. Nonetheless, despite the fact many local authorities have reported difficulties with staff recruitment and retention in recent years, they conducted an all-time high number of inspections last year of 63,500. However, there is a point I find very interesting and I followed it up with the Department. Despite that increased level of inspections, the Department of housing has not been made aware of any findings of an increase in the incidence of mould in the private rental sector. To my mind, that does not make sense. Either there is not a higher incidence, in which case it is not being reported, or the working group, which genuinely works to address the different issues with the local authorities, believes the issue is being managed sufficiently well by the local authorities for it not to come to the Department's attention, although Deputy Wynne and I both know it remains an issue. It is also possible the local authorities are so used to it that they have perhaps become inured to it as an issue and are not elevating it to the Department. I do know which is the answer.

What I do know, as a constituency TD, is that constituents have raised with me a number of cases in the private rental sector where there has been an inspection and where some cursory works have been done by a landlord but the problem re-emerges, or where the works were not done. The point is that the reinspection is just as important as the inspection. However, I am also aware of the cost of redoing a bathroom from a tax credit perspective or from the landlord's perspective. In the private rental sector, where there is a problem with a bathroom, my experience is that it often involves a single mother with a young child, or those are the cases that come to my attention as a constituency TD. I would simply like to see the bathroom redone, and quickly.

There is a significant capital outlay involved in that. That can only be recouped, I understand, from a tax credit perspective if the property is sold. I would like to incentivise that work being done and I suggest a different tax credit model be put in place so the landlord can do the works and recoup the cost in a reasonable way over time and not in a speculative way if and when the property is sold, which would reduce the amount of stock from the private rental sector as well.

See this speech in context