Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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6. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the steps he will take to ensure that minimum standards in the private rental sector are adhered to by landlords. [33382/17]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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The Government’s Strategy for the Rental Sector, published in December 2016, sets out a number of actions in relation to standards, with the combined aim of improving the quality and management of rental accommodation.  

On 1 July 2017, the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2017 came into operation with new requirements focusing on tenant safety, including new measures covering heating appliances, carbon monoxide and window safety. To complement this, my Department  will shortly be publishing a guidance document to assist local authorities in implementation of these regulations.

The capacity and effectiveness of the local authorities' inspections and enforcement systems are critical to ensure that the new standards result in high quality and safe rental accommodation. Last year's report by the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) on this area of inspection activity made a series of recommendations for improvements.  As a result of NOAC's review and my own Department's consideration of the matter, the Strategy for the Rental Sector specifically prioritises strengthening the inspection capacity of local authorities and increasing the number and frequency of inspections of rental properties.  

Building on its considerable experience in implementing shared service approaches to service delivery in recent years, a shared services model for inspection and enforcement of the rental accommodation standards regulations will be developed by the local government sector. Procedures for a more efficient, standardised and transparent inspection and enforcement approach across all local authority areas will be introduced. Under the Rental Strategy, this is  targeted for completion by Q4 2017 and my Department is working with the local authorities, through the City and County Management Association, to develop this new and more effective inspection and enforcement system.  

Specific ring-fenced funding for inspection and compliance activity will be identified from 2018 onwards and annual targets for both inspection and compliance will be agreed with local authorities. The objective set out in the Strategy is to increase inspection numbers incrementally each year so that, by 2021, 25% of all rental properties are inspected annually.