Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I will be brief and to the point. In fairness to the previous Minister, former Deputy Michael Finneran, and the previous Government, the 2004 Act was revolutionary. It created a new dimension to rental markets and gave rights in what was a haphazard and landlord-driven scenario prior to that. I find it amusing that we spent 800 years trying to eliminate the absentee landlord only to replace the absentee landlord with landlords of our own who were very cruel in certain respects. However, the vast majority of landlords are very good people who are doing their best. They usually own second or third homes and they are doing their best to provide quality accommodation for their tenants.

Where I live in County Clare we have a large number of holiday homes. People rent a house for nine months and are expected to vacate it for the following three months. During those three months the landlords can get a large amount of money from renting as a holiday let on a weekly basis. I do not know what can be done but it appears unfair that a house can be rented to a person from 1 September to the end of May and then he or she must leave for the three months of the summer. That is certainly an issue.

I would have a concern about the fees paid to the Private Residential Tenancies Board. It is an expensive process for landlords. The fees were increased recently. The fee was ¤70 for a tenant who was registered in the first month and increased to ¤140. I understand those amounts were increased recently. Obviously the landlord is the person who pays the fee. If one is in difficulty there are probably good resolution mechanisms in place. I believe it is an expensive process and the PRTB should be made to reduce its fees. For the vast majority of small landlords who try to do their best, they would prefer if the money spent on registration was used to paint or raise the standard of their properties. Unfortunately, I have to attend a committee meeting but I will listen to the Minister of State's response later. She is welcome to the House and I ask her to keep up the good work. From my experience she is one of the very good Ministers of State.