Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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513. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government why the Private Residential Tenancies Board and the Economic and Social Research Institute's rent index on rents is not being used to satisfy the criteria in respect of section 26(1)(b)(c) of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2015, and instead an advertisement of three comparable properties within the four-week period is being used, given that this will result in properties being priced at asking prices rather than actual prices. [4012/16]

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Section 19 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 provides that the rent of a dwelling may not be greater than the amount of market rent for that tenancy at that time. Section 20 of the Act provides that the rent may not be reviewed more often than once every 24 months and section 22 provides that following a review, a landlord must give their tenant a minimum of 90 days’ notice of new rent.

Section 26(1)(b) of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2015 amends section 22 of the 2004 Act to provide that a landlord must, when notifying a tenant of new rent as required under section 22, inter alia, provide the tenant with information regarding the amount of rent sought for 3 similar dwellings in a comparable area. In these circumstances, the Act stipulates that the amount of rent sought means the rent of a dwelling specified in an advertisement published within 4 weeks before the date of the notice. The purpose of this provision is to ensure that tenants are aware of prevailing rents and their rights under the Act in relation to market rent.

The Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB ) Rent Index is compiled by the Economic and Social Research Institute and based on the PRTB’s register of tenancies. The index is updated quarterly and is generally published approximately 2 months after the end of each quarter. This time lag is due to the 30 day grace period for retrospective registrations and the subsequent data analysis required. Therefore, to ensure that the most update to date information is available to tenants, landlords are asked to provide tenants with the rents of 3 similar dwellings as specified in an advertisement published within 4 weeks before the date of the notice rather than information from the PRTB Rent Index.

Where a tenant considers that the new rent set is in excess of the market rent, the tenant may bring a dispute to the PRTB and the rent may not be increased pending the determination of that dispute. Section 26(1)(b) is subject to a commencement order and will be commenced shortly.