David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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218. To ask the Minister for Social Protection in view of the non-payment of rent supplement to a landlord by a rent supplement recipient, the procedures, if any, in place whereby a landlord may recoup rent supplement owed to him or whereby the Department may recoup unpaid rent supplement from the rent supplement recipient; the action, if any, the Department may take on notification by a landlord that they have not been receiving payment from the rent supplement recipient; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21354/13]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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219. To ask the Minister for Social Protection in view of the non-payment of rent supplement to a landlord by a rent supplement recipient, if her attention has been drawn to the number of cases where rent supplement is not passed on to the landlord; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21355/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 218 and 219 together.

The overall aim is to provide short term assistance, and not to act as an alternative to the other social housing schemes operated by the Exchequer. There are currently approximately 86,000 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided €403 million for 2013.

Under the legislative provisions governing rent supplement, the Department’s relationship is with the tenant; the tenant makes the application for rent supplement and payment is made to the tenant. Rent supplement is specifically for the benefit of tenants to assist them with their accommodation needs. There is no direct relationship between the landlord and the Department in the administration of the scheme. However, social welfare legislation provides for the payment of a rent supplement payment to a nominated payee such as a landlord on behalf of the tenant. This arrangement is entered at the tenant’s request and subject to the consent of the Department. The department official dealing with the request will take into account all the relevant circumstances of the particular case and the tenant’s preference will be accommodated where possible.

It is open to the landlord to bring to the attention of the Department any instance where they suspect that a tenant is receiving rent supplement and is not paying their rent. Where the Department becomes aware that a person is not using rent supplement to meet the accommodation costs, payment of the supplement is suspended and the matter investigated. Where a landlord has a grievance in relation to the non-payment of rent by a tenant, s/he may apply to the Private Residential Tenancies Board to have the dispute resolved through the Board’s dispute resolution process. Statistics are not maintained on the numbers of cases where it is reported that rent supplement has not been passed on to landlords.