Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 42: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to introduce measures to ensure fair treatment of private rental tenants and homeowners in estates controlled by third party property management companies. [24113/11]

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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My Department has no function in relation to the operation of property management companies. The Multi Unit Developments Act 2011 which falls under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality, regulates the management and operation of such companies.

The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 sets out more generally the obligations of landlords and tenants in the broader private rented residential sector. The Act provides the main legislative framework for the sector and, in particular, for the operation of the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB), the independent statutory body charged with the administration of the Act and the enforcement of those obligations.

My Department conducted a review of the Act in 2009 with a specific emphasis on whether it best supports the PRTB's key functions and on whether legislative amendments would support either the achievement of additional operational efficiencies by the PRTB in the delivery of those functions or the broader good working of the private rented sector. The outcomes of the review were announced by my predecessor as Minister of State and, in July 2011, the Government approved the Heads of a Bill to deliver on the review's recommendations. My Department with the office of the Attorney General, is advancing the preparation of the Bill.