Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I also welcome the Bill. As the Minister of State said, it will streamline and simplify Acts and reduce delays in the dispute resolution services of the Private Residential Tenancies Board. The Bill makes provision for the inclusion within the remit of the Residential Tenancies Acts of tenancies in the voluntary and co-operative housing sector and I welcome this.

Amendments were made when the Bill was debated in the other House and I was delighted to hear the Minister of State mention these today. The Bill will amend certain provisions of the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004 to 2009 which govern the private rental sector as well as the Private Residential Tenancies Board. One of its most important functions is the provision of dispute resolution services to mediate, outside the court system, disagreements between landlords and tenants. This is important because we know how clogged up the court system is. The largest category of cases referred by landlords to the PRTB relate to rent arrears, as the previous speaker stated. In 2010 this figure was 31%. Most cases referred by tenants relate to deposit retention, and this accounted for 72% of cases in 2010. Any decision made through the dispute resolution service is legally binding.

The housing rental market, like the wider house market, experienced great change in recent years with the onset of the property crash. For many people, private renting is the only option. New regulations were introduced in February 2013 on the standard of houses and people will be able to obtain good quality private rented accommodation. In other European countries it is the norm for people to rent rather than own. As John B. Keane stated, the field is very important in Ireland, as is homeownership. The Minister of State has said it is still very important for the Government and nothing will change this.

Perception is nine tenths of the law and security is the other one tenth. Given the difficulty in obtaining mortgages, along with a fall in income, many people may never be in a position to purchase their own home. Traditionally such people opted for social housing of one type or another. For middle-income families this is not an option as they earn slightly too much to qualify. However, they have too little to obtain a mortgage under the strict criteria now being enforced by the banks, and which must be enforced because we saw what happened when the banks did not enforce such criteria. The increased demand in private rental housing will inevitably increase to meet this demand. This new market will become more vibrant, and for this reason it is essential the Government lays down guidelines. The Minister of State laid out loud and clear today very clear guidelines on the standard of private residential properties available for rent as I referred to earlier.

The market will provide some safeguard for tenants also. Professional landlords will see the advantage of providing good quality accommodation at a competitive rate along with security of tenure. This in turn will guarantee the landlords stable and long-term rental income. This approach will enable households to access good-quality housing appropriate to their circumstances in a community of their choice.

The Minister of State mentioned during a previous debate that she would bring forward amendments and she also referred to this today with regard to a deposit protection scheme. I await this and advocate it. We discussed it in the Seanad and the Minister of State has provided very positive information on it today.

There is a need for balance, as the Minister of State mentioned, between landlords and tenants. Landlords have an equal right to protection with regard to deposits and the Minister of State mentioned this equality in her statement. Any scheme which seeks to address deposit retention must fully balance the needs of tenants and landlords and as such language is important. The Bill states the name of the Private Residential Tenancies Board will change to the residential tenancies board. The language used with regard to the deposit retention scheme is also important. Will the Minister of State examine changing the title to a deposit and rent protection scheme, which would be more appropriate given the aims and objectives of the new scheme? This would open a new vista for all parties involved in the private rental contract and should relieve the workload of the PRTB. The purpose of tenants paying a deposit is to facilitate and compensate a landlord for damage caused to the property, fixtures or fittings.

The Property Registration Authority came up with the idea that a viable scheme could be considered with an increase of €5 on the current registration fee. I know some landlords do not register but, very often, it may not be the fee that is putting them off, and there will obviously be unscrupulous people in every field. I have considered this point and thought I would mention it today. In the event of a €5 increase on the current PRTB registration fee, the proceeds should be ring-fenced and placed in an appropriate interest-bearing account. Where a determination order is not complied with by a landlord within one month, the tenant should be compensated from this fund, subject to rent being paid up to the date of vacating the property and this being verified as such. If rent is paid up to date and the deposit is not refunded, immediate enforcement action should be taken by the PRTB against the landlord at the end of the action. Money recouped can be replaced in the compensation fund. Equally, if the amount of deposit paid by the tenant at the start of the tenancy does not cover any damage done to the property or any rent arrears, the fund should compensate the landlord. The PRTB should then initiate immediate legal action against the tenant on the same basis that it already initiates legal action against landlords on behalf of the tenants.

We need to achieve a balance and make people responsible when they are taking on a house to rent so that, if something happens, there are consequences thatthey cannot just run away from. This would lead to more properties being available and would also encourage people to take up that option.

As an alternative to the expenses of higher court actions, the remit of the Small Claims Court could be amended to facilitate PRTB eligibility to process cases in that court. The Small Claims Court currently has a limit of €2,000, which should be adequate for any deposit-related claims. If, in some cases, this is not sufficient to cover rent arrears, it could be dealt with by increasing the limits for the Small Claims Court.

The issue of non-payment of rent by tenants in situduring the resolution process was discussed in the other House on Report Stage, and amendments were made to that effect arising from amendments tabled on Committee Stage. These provided for the introduction of a new procedure to enable the PRTB to deal effectively with tenants who do not pay rent during the dispute process, to which the Minister of State referred. The purpose of these amendments, which now comprise the new Part 5 of the legislation, is to specifically provide for the application of that new process by a sub-tenancy. The duties and obligations of the tenancy and the sub-tenancy, of people taking over from tenants and in regard to secondary rent are well outlined in the Bill, which I welcome.

The PRTB was established in 2004 and its main function is to mediate disagreement between landlords and tenants. When the landlord takes on a new tenant, he or she must, by law, register the tenancy. Figures for non-registration were as high as 43,549 in the past, but when warning letters from solicitors were sent, this resulted in high levels of compliance. The new computer system will further facilitate the following up of all landlords and ensure that all of those with a property to rent register the tenancy with the PRTB.

I do not know if this issue currently arises in the benchmarking of local authorities, under which each one is graded on the amount of work it does in each sector. However, this is one of the benchmarks that should be added to that table so we can know, for example, that X number of landlords are registered, how many rented houses there are in each area, the percentage compliance and so on. This would make local authorities look at one another's data, because if this is possible in one area, it should be possible for all to do it.

The most common complaints by tenants concern the refusal of landlords to refund deposits, which, as another speaker noted, made up 72% of complaints. The main landlord complaints concerned arrears and other breaches of tenancy, with 68% of complaints by landlords on these matters.

Initially the PRTB was funded by the Exchequer, but it has been self-financing since 2010, which is welcome. I compliment the PRTB on the work it is doing. The properties for rent must meet new minimum standards, given that on 1 February 2013 the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations came into effect for all residential rented accommodation. This means that all rented accommodation must have its own separate sanitary facilities.

In addition, updated requirements regarding heating, facilities for cooking, food storage and laundry will apply to all rented accommodation. This must be enforced. If the Minister of State is to do anything, she should ensure that local authorities have the staff to do this. When I was a member of a local authority myself, I used always say that it was all right to bring in regulations and impose duties on local authorities, but if staff do not have the wherewithal to go out and conduct inspections and do the work, we are on a hiding to nothing. We must lay down a strategy for inspection and enforcement and set out how that will be done so as to ensure all local authorities are playing their part.

I welcome the legislation, which will further improve our system of tenant-landlord regulation and promote mediation and resolution of disputes. The provisions in this regard are particularly welcome. I firmly believe that mediation can give people in dispute a speedy and effective way to resolve issues. The extension of the registration requirement to a large number of voluntary housing tenancies is a major development. People in those tenancies have exactly the same rights as people in private rented accommodation. The Bill is a first step in the process that will see statutory regulation of the voluntary and co-operative housing sector. This will bring greater transparency and accountability to this important sector. As the Minister of State mentioned, this sector is playing a huge role and I welcome its input in regard to the provision of social housing and other accommodation.