Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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1717. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will investigate the case of the eviction of all tenants from a location (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36660/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 regulates the landlord-tenant relationship in the private rented sector and sets out the rights and obligations of landlords and tenants. The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) 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.

Security of tenure under the 2004 Act is based on rolling four-year tenancy cycles. Where a tenant has been in occupation of a dwelling for a continuous period of 6 months and no notice of termination has been served in respect of that tenancy before the expiry of the period of 6 months, the tenancy is established for the remainder of the four year period. This is referred to in the Act as a ‘Part 4’ tenancy. The Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016, extended the term of Part 4 tenancies from 4 to 6 years, for tenancies that commence after 24 December 2016.

For a Part 4 tenancy, section 34 of the Act provides that the landlord must state in the termination notice the reason the tenancy is being terminated. The termination will not be valid unless that reason is one of the reasons set out in section 34 of the Act, for example, that vacant possession is required for substantial refurbishment of the dwelling.

Notice periods for the termination of a tenancy by the landlord vary, depending on the duration of the tenancy, but periods of up to 224 days are provided for under the Act.

The Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2015 introduced strengthened protections applying to tenancy terminations in order to guard against terminations on false grounds. For instance, if a landlord is terminating the tenancy on the grounds that he intends to substantially refurbish or renovate the dwelling in a way that requires the dwelling to be vacated for that purpose, the notice of termination must contain or be accompanied by a statement;

(a) specifying the nature of the intended works. A copy of the planning permission, where required and obtained, must be attached to the notice or statement. Where planning permission is not required, the notice or statement must specify the name of the contractor employed to carry out the works and the proposed dates and duration of the intended works.

(b) that the landlord is required to offer to the tenant a tenancy of the dwelling if it becomes available for re-letting within a period of 6 months, subject to certain conditions.

Section 56 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 provides that where there is an abuse of the termination procedure in section 34, a tenant may bring a complaint to the RTB that they have been unjustly deprived of possession of a dwelling by their landlord. On the hearing of the complaint, the RTB, if it considers it proper to do so, may make a direction that damages are paid to the tenant, that the tenant be permitted to resume possession of the dwelling, or both of the foregoing directions.