Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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84. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will take action to ensure that corporate landlords are not using additional charges on top of rent to circumvent rent pressure zone regulations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12056/23]

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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There are clear data that the biggest driver of homelessness is people losing their tenancy in the private rental sector. When they get an eviction notice, that is a clear driver. What is the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, going to do about charges on top of rent that some companies are applying to renters as a way of circumventing rent regulation laws?

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 to 2022 regulate the landlord-tenant relationship in the private rented sector and set out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants. The Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, was established as an independent statutory body under the Acts to operate a national tenancy registration system and to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants.

Section 16 of the Act obliges a tenant to pay any charges or taxes in accordance with the lease or tenancy agreement unless they are unlawful or contravene any other enactment. In general, the question of whether or not a tenant has to pay charges to a landlord depends on the terms of the lease or tenancy agreement. The amount of such charges, if applicable, is a matter to be agreed between landlord and tenant. Contract law governs such arrangements. The specific terms associated with an individual tenant's rights and obligations are likely to be set out in a written contract signed by both the tenant and the landlord.

Comprehensive information on rent reviews and on general tenancy matters is available on the RTB's website, www.rtb.ie. Where there is a disagreement regarding charges payable under a lease or tenancy, the tenant or landlord may refer a dispute to the RTB for resolution. The fundamental point is that if a lease was in place between a tenant and a landlord and the lease is changed, the landlord cannot bring in additional charges on the basis of the previous lease.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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I thank the Minister of State for the response. It is a pity that, generally, the senior Minister, Deputy O'Brien, does not answer my questions during priority and oral parliamentary questions, while he does so for other Opposition spokespeople.

Specifically on this issue, rents in Ireland are among the highest in Europe. Security for renters, especially after the Government's decision to remove the eviction ban, is among the lowest in Europe. Despite this, some corporate landlords are circumventing rent regulation laws by charging additional fees in addition to core rent. To give one example, aparto, the student housing platform, which is owned by real estate giant Hines, is charging students as much as €65 a week for room costs on top of their rent. Given how high rents are, these extra charges are putting a huge burden on renters. What specifically is the Minister of State going to do about this? When he says they can refer matters to the RTB, he must be aware that the RTB is massively under-resourced and massively ineffective in dealing with complaints from tenants and landlords.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Section 16 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 obliges a tenant to pay any charges or taxes in accordance with the lease or tenancy agreement unless they are unlawful or contravene any other enactment. Typically, these may include electricity, gas or other utility charges. Will the Deputy provide the details of the specific case he raised to us? Typically, if a system has been in operation for leases and the terms of those leases are changed with additional charges, an issue should arise. I ask the Deputy to forward that particular issue to us. We will follow up with the RTB and actively look at it.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I will do that and have done so on foot of these parliamentary questions before, but I actually want the system to be fixed. The experience is poor in terms of saying to people to go to the RTB and that it might like into it. The RTB is under-resourced and is not able to deal with this. It does not have the capacity. We need the system to be fixed. Landlords are getting around the rent regulation rules by charging extra costs. Will the Minister of State bring in legislative measures to stop them doing that? Will he fix this?

A year ago, I asked the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, about tackling sex-for-rent exploitation. He gave a commitment this time last year that it would be dealt with within a few months. Nothing has been done. When will this Government act on that and on the commitments that it gave in oral parliamentary questions to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which have not been acted on?

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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On the first point the Deputy raised, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is not in the Chamber-----

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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Exactly.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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-----but I will take up with the Minister the issue the Deputy has raised about sex-for-rent exploitation. On the particular matter the Deputy raised regarding student accommodation, send the issue into us. We will follow up on it and look at it in our Department and at the RTB. If changes need to be made, we will make them, but the RTB is the body charged with this. I take the Deputy's point about capacity issues. The most important thing is that he gives us the details and if something is happening in practice that is unlawful, we will follow up on that.