Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 239: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the number of landlords which have registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board; the compliance level that is being achieved by the registration system; if he will indicate the number of compliance notices or proceedings that have arisen in respect of registration; his views on whether the legislation is adequately framed to allow residents to inform themselves of the identity of landlords who may not be fulfilling their obligations in the neighbourhood. [40855/09]

Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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I have no function in the operational matters of the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB), an independent statutory body established under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004.

Nevertheless, it should be noted that since its establishment, the Board has achieved considerable success in the registration of tenancies and I understand that in excess of 227,000 active tenancies are currently registered with the PRTB. This represents more than 112,000 active landlords and some 388,000 active tenants. It is not possible to estimate the number of landlords who have yet to comply with the registration requirements of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004. It is nonetheless noteworthy to compare the number of tenancies now registered with the previous system of registration with local authorities when registrations did not exceed 30,000.

The PRTB enforces registration requirements in accordance with the provisions of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, specifically sections 144 and 145, which provide for the issuing of notices to landlords and/or occupiers of the dwellings in question and the prosecution of offenders for non-compliance with the registration requirement. Since 2004, the Board has examined more than 8,000 cases of non-registration and has subsequently issued over 12,500 enforcement notices to landlords and/or occupiers of dwellings. These measures generally ensure compliance and as a result the Board has only had to prosecute a landlord for non-compliance on one occasion.

The Residential Tenancies Act provides for a third party, subject to certain conditions, to refer a dispute to the Private Residential Tenancies Board against a landlord who has failed to enforce tenant obligations. The Board can direct the landlord to ensure that tenants comply with their obligations and can enforce compliance through the Courts.

A specific condition is that the third party complainant must have taken all reasonable steps to resolve the matter by communicating or attempting to communicate with the parties to the tenancy concerned. Under section 77 of the Act, the Private Residential Tenancies Board may furnish to a person proposing to make a third party complaint the name and address of the landlord concerned or his or her agent. The Board may be contacted at their offices at O'Connell Bridge House, Dublin 2, or by phone or email, contact details of which are available on their website.