Written answers

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Department of Environment, Community and Local Government

Private Rented Accommodation

10:00 pm

Photo of Michael Healy-RaeMichael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 84: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his views on correspondence regarding bedsit accommodation (details supplied). [31736/11]

Photo of Willie PenroseWillie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Regulations setting out minimum standards for private rented accommodation generally were first set out in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 1993. However it became clear in recent years that these standards no longer reflected the requirements of the modern rental sector and in the Partnership Agreement Towards 2016 the Government committed to updating and more effectively enforcing the minimum standards regulations for rented houses.

In September, 2006, my Department launched the programme Action on Private Rented Accommodation Standards. Arising out of this programme, new regulations prescribing minimum standards for rented accommodation, the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008, came into effect on 1 February 2009, with certain provisions being phased in for existing rental properties over a four year period to allow time for the carrying out of the significant remedial work that may be involved in achieving compliance. Article 2 of these Regulations sets out the date from which the Regulations take effect. This depends on whether or not the house is an existing rental property or a new let. Therefore, as far as existing rental properties are concerned Articles 6, 7 and 8 continue to be subject to the relevant provisions of the Housing (Standards for Rented Housing) Regulations 1993 until 1 of February 2013. However, any rental properties being let for the first time after 1 February 2009 have to comply with all the requirements of the new Regulations.

The purpose of Article 6 of the Regulations is to ensure that each rental property has exclusive access to its own sanitary facilities and that those facilities are contained within the habitable area of the house. This provision will have the effect of removing traditional bed-sit-type accommodation from the rental market. Article 7 relates to effective heating which can be independently managed by the tenant and Article 8 provides for sole access to adequate facilities for hygienic storage, preparation and the cooking of food. The revised regulations were drafted following consultations with key stakeholders, including landlords' and tenants' representative organisations, and the four-year phasing-in period for certain aspects of the regulations applying to existing accommodation was specifically designed to afford landlords the time to either adequately meet the revised minimum standards or to remove unsuitable accommodation from the rental market.

I am satisfied that the private rented residential sector contains a sufficiently large stock of decent housing and of good landlords to ensure that those previously renting accommodation at the lowest end of the market can still be accommodated within that market but in better quality accommodation. I do not accept the argument that we must tolerate sub-standard accommodation in order to meet the housing needs of those at the edges of the market. All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with these regulations and responsibility for enforcing the regulations rests with the relevant local authority, supported by a dedicated stream of funding allocated by my Department. I expect that landlords will behave responsibly and prepare for the 1 February 2013 deadline as referred to above but I also expect that local authorities will pay particular attention to this aspect of landlords' obligations as they police the minimum standards in the years ahead.

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