Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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916. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the date by which statutory instruments will be made to commence the new local authority differential rent framework. [1313/15]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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917. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide specific examples of the way the new local authority differential rent framework will be more equitable. [1314/15]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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918. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if local authority rents will increase following the introduction of the new local authority differential rent framework. [1315/15]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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919. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide the rent levels that will apply after the new local authority differential rent framework transitional period has concluded. [1316/15]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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920. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the action he will take in the event a majority of elected representatives of a local authority vote against the implementation of the new differential rent framework and retain the existing arrangements. [1317/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 916 to 920, inclusive, together.

Section 31 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009, as amended, provides for the introduction of a national differential rents framework that will result in a significant harmonisation of local authority differential rent levels nationally, while retaining some discretion for individual authorities in setting rents in their areas.

The rationale for the new rent framework is to introduce a more equitable rental model for local authority rents and rent contributions, by providing that households throughout the country in similar circumstances should pay broadly the same amount in rent, while also ensuring that local authorities receive sufficient rental income to manage and maintain their housing stock into the future.

In accordance with the timelines outlined in the Government’s Social Housing Strategy 2020, published in November 2014, the necessary order and regulationsto initiate the new rent framework will be made in the first quarter of this year. The elected members of each local authority will then have a number of months to make the first rent scheme under the 2009 Act and I expect that theywill comply with the law in this matter.

Section 31 rents are expected to be introduced on 1 July 2015 with housing authorities having a 2-year transition period during which they will continue to set rents at their discretion for their own housing stock and for leased properties, including dwellings provided under the Rental Accommodation Scheme. The introduction of the rent framework will mean that, on the expiry of the 2 year transitional period, the amount of rent payable by some households may be lower in some cases, and higher in others, than the rent currently payable under section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. The transition period will give housing authorities the opportunity to move in incremental steps towards the rent levels that will apply on expiry of the transition period.

The details of the new rent framework are being finalised in the context of the drafting of the forthcoming Regulations.