Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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234. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the detail of the report of the Residential Tenancies Board relating to rent inflation in Maynooth in the past six quarters; if the position will be reviewed after 31 March 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6863/17]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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235. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if he will inquire from the Housing Agency the reason the towns of Clane, Kilcock and Kill, County Kildare, were not recommended by it for possible designation by the Residential Tenancies Board as rent pressure zones; if they can be reviewed now; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6864/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 234 and 235 together.

The Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 amends the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 to provide that the Housing Agency, in consultation with housing authorities, may make a proposal to the Minister that an area should be considered as a Rent Pressure Zone.  Following receipt of such a proposal, the Minister requests the Director of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) to conduct an assessment of the area to establish whether or not it meets the criteria for designation and to report to the Minister on whether the area should be designated as a Rent Pressure Zone.

For an area to be designated a Rent Pressure Zone, it must satisfy the following criteria set out in section 24A(4) of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (as amended by section 36 of the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016):

(i) The annual rate of rent inflation in the area must have been 7% or more in four of the last six quarters; and

(ii) The average rent for tenancies registered in the area with the RTB in the last quarter must be above the average national rent (the National Indicative Rent in the RTB’s Rent Index Report) in the last quarter.

Following the enactment of the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenan cies Act 2016 , the Housing Agency reviewed the rental markets in certain counties nationally and identified nine housing authorities containing electoral areas that could potentially be Rent Pressure Zones.  The Housing Agency consulted with the relevant housing authorities regarding their views on the rental markets, including housing demand and supply, and their experiences in relation to the Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS), the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), trends in relation to both general housing needs and homelessness and other relevant issues.

On 24 January 2017 t he Housing Agency proposed that 15 Local Electoral Areas in the following five housing authority areas should be considered for designation: Cork County, Galway City, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow. On foot of the proposal from the Housing Agency, and in accordance with section 24A(2) of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (as amended), I requested the Director of the RTB to make a report to me as to whether these areas met the criteria for designation as Rent Pressure Zones.

On 26 January 2017, I received a report from the RTB confirming that 12 out of the 15 Local Electoral A reas examined met the criteria. As required by section 24A(5) of the Act, I made Orders designating the 12 Rent Pressure Zones on 26 January 2017. The Orders came into effect on 27 January 2017. Details of the areas that met the criteria and have been designated as Rent Pressure Zones are available on my Department’s website at the following link: www.housing.gov.ie/housing/private-rented-housing/coveney-designates-new-rent-pressure-zones.

The Local Electoral Are as of Cobh, Maynooth and Greystones were found not to meet the criteria. Clane and Kilcock are part of the electoral area of Maynooth and therefore do not meet the criteria to be designated as a Rent Pressure Zone. Kill, however, is part of the electoral area of Naas, which has been designated as a Rent Pressure Zone. The reports received from the RTB in relation to the designation of rent pressure zones, including a table showing the results of the analysis carried out on the 15 proposed areas for designation, are available on the website of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) at the following link: www.rtb.ie/docs/default-source/rent-pressure-zones/summary-results-table.pdf?sfvrsn=2.

Under the Act, I have no further role or discretion in proposing areas for designation as Rent Pressure Zones or in deciding whether they should be designated. The designation process is independent and based on clear objective criteria and quantifiable evidence.

The Housing Agency will continue to monitor the rental market and may recommend further areas for designation. Where, following the procedures set out in the Act, it is found at a future date that additional areas meet the criteria, they will be designated as Rent Pressure Zones.