Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Question 259: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the year in which registration fees for landlords in respect of private rented residential properties were introduced; the legislation which covers this issue; the reason these fees were introduced; the powers of local authorities to collect these fees; if this work can be contracted out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35820/05]

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Housing (Registration of Rented Houses) Regulations 1996 introduced the registration requirement applying to tenancies in the general private rented sector. Article 5(4) specified the fee applying to the application for registration and article 8 provided for the payment of an annual fee in respect of a house that continued to be rented. The registration regulations and the fee requirement were introduced in order to assist local authorities in enforcing the standards and rent books regulations applying to the private rented sector. Failure to comply with the registration regulations was an offence.

The 1996 registration regulations, which were made under section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992, were repealed by section 10(2) of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 and replaced with the registration system contained in Part 7 of the 2004 Act. Registration fees under the 2004 Act are payable by landlords to the Private Residential Tenancies Board. The level of registration fees is prescribed in the Act and the manner in which fees are collected is a matter for the board.

A proportion of registration fee moneys is being transferred from the board to local authorities, in recognition of their registration fee income foregone, to fund enforcement of the private rented accommodation regulatory requirements. From 2006 onwards, this transfer will be related to each authority's enforcement performance as evidenced by their statistical returns and the need to distribute income across the statutory four-year tenancy cycle. These arrangements mean that authorities continue to be specifically resourced for their regulatory functions with regard to the private rented sector.