Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I thank the Cathaoirleach for his congratulations and I extend my congratulations to him. We soldiered together here in the past and it is good to see him in that chair.

I thank Senator Burke for raising this important matter in which I have considerable interest. I am glad to have the opportunity to address it on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Hogan, and to outline the progress made by the Private Residential Tenancies Board in tackling the issue of non-registration of tenancies. I was particularly interested to hear the facts and figures from the survey Senator Burke mentioned.

The PRTB was established under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004. The Act provides the main legislative framework for the private rented residential sector and for the operation of the PRTB. There has been a notable recent increase in tenancy registration applications due to the enforcement drive in this regard by the PRTB over the past year, in particular where it identified unregistered landlords whose tenants were in receipt of rent supplement from the Department of Social Protection. As a result, the rate of non-compliance has dropped from 37% for the last quarter in 2010, which Senator Burke mentioned, to 18% for the second quarter of 2011, a reduction of more than 50%.

The Act applies to all dwellings that are the subject of a tenancy, whether oral or in writing or implied, except for the exemptions outlined in section 3(2) of the Act. There are tenancies where the tenant is in receipt of rent supplement which are outside the ambit of the Act, such as a dwelling within which the landlord also resides. Matters arising within the exempted categories are dealt with, as necessary, by civil proceedings. All other matters fall to be dealt with by the PRTB.

The PRTB enforces tenancies' registration requirements in accordance with the provisions of the Act, specifically sections 144 and 145 which provide for the issuing of notices to landlords and-or occupiers of the dwellings in question and the prosecution of offenders for non-compliance with the registration requirement. Under section 9 of the Act, a person guilty of an offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or both.

The PRTB has laid the groundwork for a compliance programme for prosecuting landlords who fail to apply for tenancy registration. New software rolled out in May 2011 is effectively interrogating databases provided by sister public sector organisations - primarily, the Department of Social Protection - and is proving a very effective tool both in identifying unregistered landlords and electronically managing their case files to secure registration compliance and bring prosecutions where necessary.

Tax compliance is a matter for the Revenue Commissioners and the PRTB provides information to them in this regard. In line with increased funding, local authorities have significantly expanded their inspection activities in recent years. In 2010, the Department offered additional funding to all housing authorities to carry out once-off strategically planned programmes of inspection in addition to their usual inspection activity and to target key areas and categories of rented accommodation, including properties that are the subject of rent supplement. Full details of the inspections carried out on a county and city basis are published in the Department's annual housing statistics bulletins.

If Senator Colm Burke would like to submit any new data or research on this matter and if the details of what he mentioned are available, we would like to look at it and the Minister, Deputy Hogan, will ensure the matter receives appropriate attention.