Niall Collins (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 844: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will provide details of landlords of all properties at which rent supplement payments are paid to local authorities to enable them to identify tenancies where the non-principal private residence €200 charge has not been paid in order to facilitate the necessary follow up action; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38364/09]

Niall Collins (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 850: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she will make it a condition of the rent supplement scheme that all rent supplemented tenancies, which are liable for registration with the Private Residential Tenancies Board, which fail to register within one month of the start date of a tenancy, should be then disqualified from the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38430/09]

Niall Collins (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)
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Question 851: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the position regarding the landlord details her Department has provided to the Private Residential Tenancies Board in respect of rent supplement payments; the frequency with which same is provided by her Department to the PRTB; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38431/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos 844, 850 and 851 together.

Rent supplement is administered on behalf of the Department by the Community Welfare Service of the Health Service Executive as part of the supplementary welfare allowance scheme. The Department provides details of all current rent supplement recipients and landlords to the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government on a quarterly basis, with a view to assisting local authorities with a range of housing issues, including the transfer of rent supplement recipients to the Rental Accommodation Scheme and inspections of standards for private rented houses.

Under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, landlords are legally obliged to register tenancies with the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB). The Department is working closely with the PRTB to ensure that all tenancies where rent supplement is in payment are registered with the PRTB. To that end, the Department provides details of new rent supplement payments to the PRTB to enable them identify tenancies that are not registered and to take any follow-up action necessary. The most recent data file was transferred by the Department to the PRTB on 14 October 2009 and included new rent supplement claims up to end September 2009. The next data file is due for transfer in January 2010.

Landlords are legally obliged to register tenancies with the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) within one month from the start date of the tenancy or at a later date on payment of an increased fee. For this reason, it is not practicable for the Department to insist that a tenancy be registered with the PRTB before payment of rent supplement can be made. There are also instances where a rent supplemented tenancy need not be registered with the PRTB, for example, in the case of renting a room in a house or where a premises is owner occupied.

Rent supplemented tenancies which are liable for registration with the PRTB, should be so registered. In that regard, the close working arrangements which the Department has with the PRTB should ensure that, over time, all tenancies that come with the area of rent supplementation comply with the statutory system of tenancy regulation and safeguards.