Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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437. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if his Department regularly inspects homes rented under the housing assistance payment scheme to check if they are fit for purpose and up to standard. [13373/17]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Minimum standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008, as amended by the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) (Amendment) Regulations 2009, made under section 18 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992.

Responsibility for inspection of rental properties as well as enforcement of the regulations rests with the relevant local authority. All landlords have a legal obligation, including those under HAP, to ensure that their rented properties comply with the regulations governing the minimum standards for rented accommodation. Under section 41 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014, local authorities are required to commence this inspection process within 8 months of HAP being paid in relation to a particular dwelling if not already inspected within the previous 12 months.

The Strategy for the Rental Sector, published in December 2016, recognises that the quality of rental accommodation is critical to the success and sustainability of the residential rental sector and its attractiveness as a long-term accommodation option for households. The inspection capacity of Local Authorities will be strengthened in order to increase the number and frequency of inspections. In addition to updated regulations, procedures for a more efficient, standardised and transparent inspections and enforcement approach across all Local Authority areas will be introduced; and specific ring-fenced funding for inspections will be provided from 2018 onwards, with the aim of achieving a 25% annual inspection coverage of rental properties by 2021.