Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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175. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his views on the length of time it is taking for the Private Residential Tenancies Board to issue determination orders; if he is aware that in some cases it takes nine months to issue such orders, which is a factor in the reduced numbers of properties available to rent in the private rental sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21202/15]

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 regulates the tenant-landlord relationship in the private rented residential sector. The Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) was established under the Act to operate a national tenancy registration system and to facilitate the resolution of disputes between landlords and tenants in this sector.

As the PRTB replaces the Courts for the vast majority of landlord and tenant disputes, there are statutory time periods laid down in the Residential Tenancies Act to provide for due process.

The PRTB received 3,374 applications for Dispute Resolution in 2014; this is a 104% increase since 2008 when 1,650 cases were received. Some 80% of cases are processed or closed within 5 to 6 months. Only 7% of what are the most difficult cases are taking 9 to 10 months to process. There are a number of factors that may delay the processing of a case including where adjournment requests are made or where there are difficulties locating a party to the dispute.

Late 2013 also saw the introduction of a pilot telephone mediation service as an alternative means to address disputes. Processing times for mediation cases are typically 10 to 12 weeks.