Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairperson, all Senators, and everybody behind the scenes for facilitating debate today on this urgent legislation in Seanad Éireann before the summer recess.

This Bill will amend the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 to provide in the case of student specific accommodation, SSA, tenancies or licences for arrangements to: permit an advance payment of rent exceeding an amount equivalent to one month’s rent, only where a person is paying both rent and tuition fees to the same relevant provider, for example, a public or private education provider; limit the duration of such a tenancy or licence, other than at the request of the prospective tenant or licensee, to not more than 41 weeks; apply Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, sanctions to improper conduct by a landlord or licensor for exceeding that duration of 41 weeks; provide for the referral of disputes to the RTB where a landlord or licensor requests or requires a student to enter an SSA tenancy or licence that exceeds a duration of 41 weeks; and enable a fixed-term tenant or licensee of student specific accommodation to serve a notice of termination during the period from 1 May to 1 October, inclusive, in any year whether or not the landlord or licensor has failed to comply with any obligations of the tenancy or licence.

My Government colleagues and I have noted with alarm the number of private SSA providers that have moved exclusively to 51-week tenancies or licences. This is not desirable or affordable for the vast majority of students and their families, who rightly wish to pay for accommodation only during the academic term. In addition, a number of private SSA providers are not operating within the spirit of the Residential Tenancies Act insofar as it restricts the amount of any advance rent payment and of any deposit that can be required to be paid upfront. Some private SSA providers are operating booking portals that seek payments of amounts that exceed those that can be legally required under the RTA to secure a tenancy or licence agreement. I urge SSA providers to immediately amend their booking portals to seek and require only lawful upfront payments.

Section 19B of the RTA restricts the amount that a tenant is required to pay upfront to a landlord or SSA licenser by way of a deposit or an advance rent payment to secure a tenancy or SSA licence, that is, any deposit cannot exceed one month's rent, and any advance rent payment cannot exceed one month's rent. A restriction of the equivalent of one month's rent is also placed on the amount that a tenant or SSA licensee is obliged to pay as a regular advance rent payment.

The pressure on students and their families to secure student-specific accommodation is resulting in upfront payments being made to private SSA providers that far exceed those that can be legally required. This practice impedes access to education and flies in the face of the legislation. We must act swiftly to safeguard students from creating SSA tenancies or licences that exceed the academic term or making excessive upfront payments to secure tenancies or licences.

As the House will appreciate, the Government is very active in increasing the supply of student-specific accommodation to help alleviate the rental pressures in that sector and throughout the wider rental market and to reduce rents. Under Housing for All, the Government has committed to improve the supply and affordability of rental accommodation and security of tenure for renters, including students. Work is ongoing with higher education institutions to ensure that more accommodation is built on and off campus, using cost rental and other models. Housing for All provides that the Government support technological universities to develop purpose-built student accommodation where such a requirement exists, through access to appropriate funding.

I will now outline the provisions of the Bill, which contains seven sections.

Sections 1 and 7 contain standard provisions.

Section 2 amends section 19B of the principal Act to clarify that a person cannot seek or require an advance rent payment that exceeds one month's rent. A new section 19B(3A) provides that a student-tenant may agree to make an advance rent payment of greater than one month's rent only where such a payment is part of a combined payment, in respect of rent for accommodation and tuition fees, to the same relevant provider, within the meaning of the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012, which includes both public and private education providers.

Section 3 inserts a new section 19C into the principal Act to ensure that students cannot be requested or required to pay for student-specific accommodation during the summer months. SSA tenancies or licences will be limited to a maximum of 41 weeks. A student can, however, request and agree with an SSA provider to rent for longer.

Section 4 amends section 58 of the principal Act to allow students who are bound to a fixed-term SSA tenancy or licence to serve a 28-day notice of termination, NOT, from 1 May to 1 October each year, whether or not the SSA landlord or licenser has failed to comply with any tenancy or licence obligation.

Section 5 amends section 78 of the principal Act to include a contravention of the new 41-week restriction as a matter that can be referred to the RTB for dispute resolution.

Section 6 amends Schedule 2 to the principal Act to clearly provide that anyone who seeks or requires payments in contravention of section 19B of the principal Act or who requests or requires a tenancy or licence duration that exceeds 41 weeks is engaging in "improper conduct" and liable to sanction by the RTB. A sanction may comprise a financial penalty of up to €15,000, payment of RTB investigation costs up to €15,000 and-or a written caution.

The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science will engage in an awareness campaign following the enactment of this legislation to ensure that students, parents, SSA providers and those working in the sector are aware of the new laws. The RTB will also provide relevant information to the sector. The Department has already notified SSA providers of the publication of this Bill and requested that its measures be adopted without delay in respect of new and existing tenancies and licences. Today I call on SSA providers to contact individual students with existing tenancies or licences and update the terms of their agreements in line with the provisions of this Bill. I also call on providers to create only tenancies or licences that align with this Bill from this point forward. The Bill will ensure that providers treat students, their customers, in a fair and respectful manner.

The Bill before the House is balanced and takes into account the legal advices of the Attorney General. I believe that the Bill strikes the right balance and I call on SSA providers to recognise that it is simply wrong to charge students for accommodation during the summer months. It is wrong to ask students to pay far greater upfront payments than is lawful. Other renters pay no more than one month's rent in advance, and that is the law. The Government is fully committed to ensuring that the Residential Tenancies Acts are implemented and applied in the sector, in accordance with the intentions and the spirit of the Houses of the Oireachtas. Student-specific accommodation was brought under the remit of these Acts in 2019 for good reasons: to protect students and control their rents and to provide recourse to the RTB's dispute resolution service for both parties. I commend the Bill to the House.