Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party)
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581. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will provide in tabular form the number of complaints received by the Property Services Regulatory Authority each year for the past three years; in these cases, the number that have been resolved; the sanctions have been applied; the number of meetings that have been held by the Authority; and the waiting times for the hearing of complaints. [31109/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA) was formally established on 3 April 2012 pursuant to the Property Services (Regulation) Act 2011. One of the main statutory functions of the PSRA is the licensing of Property Service Providers, i.e. auctioneers, letting agents and property management agents. The Authority is independent in the performance of its functions, including the application of sanctions under the Act. I am informed that a key focus for the Authority is driving compliance with standards under the Act.

I am advised by the Authority that waiting times for the hearing of complaints varies from case to case and is dependent on a wide range of factors including the complexity of each case, the number of parties involved, the need to seek legal advice if appropriate, the need to institute legal proceedings if appropriate, whether the Authority opts to conduct an oral hearing and whether an appeal to the Property Services Appeal Board is made.

Meetings of the Authority have taken place on 35 occasions to date.

Details of the number of complaints received, concluded and sanctions applied by the Authority for each of the past three years are set out in the table below.