Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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108. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the role he sees landlords, including local authorities, playing in regard to the collection of water charges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45860/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels. The occupier of a property is liable to pay the water charges bill, and legislation provides that the owner is the occupier unless the contrary is proven. Irish Water is providing landlords with the opportunity to prove that they are not the occupier by providing the tenants name. This will allow Irish Water to contact the tenant to complete the registration and to bill the tenant. The tenant will have to register with Irish Water to avail of the water conservation grant or to get lower charges than the default capped charge (€260), where they are single adult occupants or their metered usage is less than the maximum charge.

Draft legislation which I will be bringing forward will place certain obligations on landlords where the tenant has not paid charges. In the case of tenants in private rented accommodation, the legislation will seek to insert into all tenancy agreements/leases a deemed obligation on the tenant to discharge their liability for water charges. I n the event of a tenant not discharging their water charges , the landlord would be entitled to withhold the amount of arrears concerned from the tenant’s deposit and would be required to remit the amount involved to Irish Water.

In the case of local authority tenants, where deposit arrangements do not apply, and where a customer is in arrears for more than 12 months and a late payment fee has accrued, Irish Water, having firstly provided the customer with the opportunity to pay the arrears or enter into a payment plan, will advise the local authority concerned of the amount of the arrears. It is envisaged that the legislation would provide for the local authority to recover the amount outstanding over a 12 month period and to remit the amount involved to Irish Water.

These scenarios can be avoided by entering into a payment plan with Irish Water. Various easypay options will be made available through post offices or other payment providers. The overall net cost for those who register is either €1.15 a week for single adult households or €3 a week for all others. Water supply will be not be reduced under any circumstance.

My Department will be consulting with the local government sector, social housing providers and landlord and tenant representatives in the course of drafting the necessary legislation to give effect to the measures proposed.