Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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588. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the average length of time for processing complaints made to the Property Services Regulatory Authority. [33499/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Property Services Regulatory Authority was established on a statutory basis on 3 April 2012 under the Property Services (Regulation) Act 2011. A key role of the Authority is to set and enforce standards in the provision of property services by auctioneers, letting agents and property management agents and to provide redress mechanisms for consumers of those services. It should be noted that, in accordance with Section 9 of the Act, the Authority is independent in the performance of its functions.

Under the Property Services (Regulation) Act 2011, the Authority is empowered to investigate complaints made against property service providers and to initiate investigations for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the law. Any person may make a complaint in writing to the Authority against a property service provider in relation to the provision of a property service or the conduct of a property service provider in the course of providing a property service.

Before a complaint can be investigated, the person against whom the complaint is made must be given 14 days in which to give an initial response. Following such response, the Authority must appoint an inspector to carry out the investigation. Under the Act, the inspector must afford the person against whom the complaint was made 30 days to make a submission. It is only following such a submission that the inspector can commence the investigation.

I am advised by the Authority that thereafter, the time taken to investigate will depend on the nature of the complaint. The minimum time taken to investigate a complaint to date has been approximately 6 weeks whereas some complaints which are still under investigation have been ongoing for several months.