Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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605. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the steps being taken to increase the efficiency of decision-making in disputes by the Private Residential Tenancies Board given that speedy decisions are in the best interest of both tenants and landlords and that prolonged disputes can leave a landlord without rental income despite facing mortgage repayments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45837/15]

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 regulates the landlord-tenant relationship in the private rented residential sector and sets out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants. The Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) was established as an independent statutory body under the Act to operate a national tenancy registration system and to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants.

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. 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.

The PRTB received 3,374 applications for dispute resolution in 2014, a 104% increase since 2008 when 1,650 cases were received. In 2014, some 80% of cases were processed or closed within 5 to 6 months. Only 7% of what were the most difficult cases were taking 9 to 10 months to process.

The PRTB is continuously reviewing operations to increase efficiency and processing times continue to improve in 2015. The PRTB reports that currently 82% of cases are completed in 4 months or less. Only 2% of the most troublesome cases are taking in excess of 6 months to complete.

A telephone mediation service was introduced in late 2013 as an alternative means to address disputes. Processing times for telephone mediation cases in 2014 were typically 10 to 12 weeks. Processing times for telephone mediation have improved further in the course of 2015 to 6 to 9 weeks.

I am confident that the Board continues to discharge its statutory obligations in an independent, fair and efficient manner.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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606. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if the Private Residential Tenancies Board is to receive increased resources due to the greater role the board will play arising from the recent measures on housing introduced by him; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45838/15]

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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The Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) was established in September 2004 under the Residential Tenancies Act.

The PRTB’s funding is derived primarily from a proportion of the fee income accruing from tenancy registrations, as set down by Ministerial Order. The Board is currently entitled to retain 80% of the registration fee income to fund its activities, with 20% going to fund local authority inspections of rented accommodation under the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008. It also retains the fees charged for its dispute resolution services. Details of the Board’s income are set out in its Annual Reports and Accounts, which are available on its website .

In line with the Government’s Employment Control Framework, the PRTB was required to reduce its staffing complement from a peak of 70 which included agency staff, to 50 at end-2011 and to 33 by end-2013.

The reduction in staffing over that period also needs to be seen in the context of the introduction of online tenancy registration and dispute application services and the outsourcing of certain activities. In 2012, the PRTB awarded a contract, outsourcing its call -centre activities and the processing of paper registrations, allowing the Board to focus on its dispute resolution functions.  There are currently 30 people employed on the PRTB account by the outsourced service provider.

Given the sustained increase in demand for PRTB services, approval was provided in 2014 for an additional 9 permanent staff and the Board is in the process of recruitment to fill these posts which will bring the number of personnel up to 42.

More recently, in the context of the implementation of the Government’s package of measures in relation to the rental sector announced in November 2015, sanction for a further 5 staff to establish the Deposit Protection Scheme and 3 additional staff to administer the new rent stability arrangements was secured. When recruitment is completed, this will bring the staff complement back up to 50 and ensures that the Board is well-resourced to perform its functions.

My Department continues to keep the resources available to the PRTB under close review and engages regularly with the Board on this matter.