Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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528. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the measures he is taking to protect persons who are paying rent to landlords, who do not qualify for rent supplements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48955/14]

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 regulates the landlord-tenant relationship in the private rented sector and sets out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants relating to, inter-alia, security of tenure, termination of tenancies, rent and rent reviews. The 2004 Act provides that rents may not be greater than the open market rate and may only be reviewed upward or downward once a year unless there has been a substantial change in the nature of the accommodation that warrants a review. Tenants must be given 28 days’ notice of new rent and can make an application for dispute resolution to the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) where they feel the rent increase is in excess of the market rent. These provisions have effect notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in a lease or tenancy agreement. In the third quarter of 2014, rents were 5.6% higher nationally than the same period last year, according to the most recent rent index from the PRTB. Rents for houses were 4.3% higher, while apartment rents were 7.3% higher than in the same quarter of 2013. In Dublin, which is seeing the highest rates of increase nationally, overall rents were higher by 9.5%.

A recent Red C poll for the PRTB found that only 64% of tenants were aware of their rights under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004. The PRTB is developing a new communications strategy, which will include increasing awareness of existing rights and obligations under the legislation and will be rolled out early in 2015.

Ultimately, the main cause of rising rents is a lack of supply in the market and the recently published Social Housing Strategy 2020 sets out clear, measureable actions and targets to increase the supply of social housing, reform delivery arrangements and meet the housing needs of all households on the housing list. The total targeted provision of over 110,000 social housing units will address the needs of the 90,000 on the housing waiting list in full, with flexibility to meet potential future demand. In addition, the implementation of the range of actions under the Government’s Construction 2020strategy will support increased supply in the wider housing market.