Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 527: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will introduce a stricter regime for assessing the quality of private rented accommodation as the 1993 regulations provides insufficient protection for tenants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26238/05]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 1993 specify the minimum standards applying to rented accommodation, both private and social. While the regulations specify minimum standards, I do not accept that they provide insufficient protection for tenants. Accommodation that fully complies with the existing regulations will be of an acceptable standard. As the regulations are now 12 years in operation, it is my intention to review their content once the process of bedding down the new tenancy legislative regime permits.

Enforcement of the standards regulations continues to be a function of local authorities. It is their responsibility to establish whether accommodation does or does not comply and to take enforcement action against the landlord where it finds a breach of the regulations. It is not a function of authorities to assess the level of quality of the accommodation but rather to establish if it is in compliance with the minimum standards requirements.

There is a responsibility on each local authority to carry out its functions under the standards regulations as effectively and proactively as possible. To this end, the transfer to local authorities of fee income available from the registration of tenancies with the Private Residential Tenancies Board, will, in future years, be based on each authority's performance in enforcing the standards and rent books regulations as evidenced by their statistical returns, as well as the level of registrations relating to their functional areas and the need to distribute income across the four-year tenancy cycle.