Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he is considering the introduction of a standardised private rental contract for residential property and a deposit scheme whereby deposits paid by renters are held in a neutral account. [6279/13]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 regulates the tenant-landlord relationship in the private rented residential sector. Under the Act a tenancy includes any periodic or fixed term tenancy whether oral, written or implied and a tenancy agreement includes an oral tenancy agreement. It is a matter for the tenant and landlord to agree the terms and conditions of a lease or tenancy agreement consistent with the Act and I do not propose to vary this arrangement.

On foot of the commitment in the Programme for Government 2011 to introduce a tenancy deposit protection scheme I asked the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) to commission research on such a scheme and to report back to me with recommendations. The final report and recommendations were submitted to me on 12 November 2012 and I am examining the report with a view to providing for the establishment of tenancy deposit protection in the context of the Oireachtas consideration of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012.