Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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15. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that private rental prices have increased year on year since he was appointed; his plans to address this problem exacerbated by subsidy of private rental market and current rental properties being repossessed and put up for sale. [20488/13]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Private residential tenancies, with limited exceptions, are governed by the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 and the main provisions in respect of rent and rent reviews are set out in Part III of that Act. Under section 19 of the Act, it is prohibited to set the rent under a tenancy at a rate above the market rent at either the beginning of the tenancy or at any subsequent rent review. Both tenants and landlords have the right to a review of rent, even where there is no provision to that effect in the tenancy agreement. Such a review may not take place more frequently than once in each period of 12 months nor in the first 12 months of the tenancy.

The available evidence regarding private residential rent levels is mixed and indicates that average rent levels fell in 2010 and 2011 and increased in 2012.

I look forward to the launch , next month, of a rental price data index by the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) next month which will be based on the actual rents paid, not the asking prices, and which will greatly inform analysis and policy formulation in this area. The PRTB index will be based on rental price data in the PRTB register dating back to end-2007 and will be calculated to allow for better like-with-like comparisons. Preliminary analysis of the data shows a small increase in rent up to mid-2008 followed by a steady decline in average rents lasting until early 2011. Since then, the data indicate an overall stabilisation in rent levels with small increases in the Dublin rental market .