Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 744: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of inspections carried out by local authorities on privately rented properties by city and county councils; the number of cases taken to Court over the past year; the amount of money raised to date in 2009 from fines imposed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29358/09]

Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 745: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of inspections carried out on privately rented properties by local authorities where the minimum standards were not met nationally; the breakdown for each city and county council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29359/09]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Question Nos. 744 and 745 together.

Minimum standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008, as made under section 18 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992. All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure their rented properties comply with these regulations. Responsibility for enforcing the regulations rests with the relevant local authority, supported by a dedicated stream of funding allocated by my Department. This funding increased significantly between 2005 and 2008, rising from €1.5 million to €4 million. I am pleased that I will be in a position to maintain funding for this purpose in 2009 at the 2008 level of €4 million, bringing total funding allocations since 2004 to €15 million. In general, local authorities have significantly expanded their inspection activity in recent years with the number of inspections more than doubling, from 6,815 to 14,008, between 2005 and 2007. Details of the inspections of private rented accommodation carried out, the dwellings inspected which did not meet the statutory standards and prosecutions initiated up to 2007 on a county and city basis are included in my Department's Annual Housing Statistics Bulletins, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas Library and on my Department's website, www.environ.ie. Work is under way on finalising the 2008 data which will be published later this summer. However, preliminary figures indicate a year-on-year increase of approximately 23% in the number of inspections carried out, with over 17,200 inspections completed in 2008. This further significant increase reflects the positive impact of the overall Action Programme on Standards, including increased funding, introduced on foot of a commitment in the Towards 2016 social partnership agreement, and progress with the implementation of the Rental Accommodation Scheme. The preliminary figures also indicate that of the 14,880 dwellings inspected in 2008, 2,854 did not meet the minimum standards and 8 prosecutions were initiated by local authorities. Information is not available to my Department on the amount of money raised to date from fines imposed in 2009.

It is a matter for each individual local authority to decide the specific details of its enforcement strategy and inspection arrangements. However, in discharging their responsibilities to the rental sector, authorities have been asked to have regard to the good practice guidelines for local authorities on standards in the private rented sector, Strategic Planning, Effective Enforcement, which were published by the Centre for Housing Research in November 2007. They make a range of recommendations on relevant issues, including targeting inspection activities. Following the enactment of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008, a comprehensive new sanctions regime will be available to local authorities. Fines for non-compliance with the regulations will be significantly increased. The maximum fine will be increased from €3,000 to €5,000. The fine for each day of a continuing offence will be increased from €250 to €400. However, a report published by the Centre for Housing Research in November 2007 points out that landlords' responsiveness to notices of non-compliance issued by local authorities has ensured that the need to prosecute is relatively low. The report also concludes that the low volume of cases taken each year suggests that most examples of non-compliance are on a relatively minor scale.