Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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797. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the policy on private tenants in situ in apartments that have been bought by a voluntary housing body when those tenants are entitled to HAP; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39728/17]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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798. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the rights of a private tenant that is eligible for housing and HAP and who lives in a property that has been bought by a voluntary housing body but is not paying differential rent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39729/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 797 and 798 together.

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 (Amendment) Act 2015 amended section 3 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 so that dwellings let by Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) to social housing tenants now come within the remit of the Act. Tenants in HAP supported tenancies and AHB tenancies are afforded the same rights and protections available to all those in private rented tenancies, with some minor exceptions in relation to rent setting and reviews for AHB tenancies.

In a case where an Approved Housing Body (AHB) purchases apartments that have tenants in situ who are qualified for social housing support and are on the record of qualified households, it is a matter for the individual local authority as to whether such apartments should be allocated to the tenants in question in accordance with its social housing allocations scheme.

Local authorities are by law (Section 63(1) of the Local Government Act 2001) independent in the performance of their functions. The allocation of social housing support to qualified households is a matter for the local authority concerned, in accordance with its allocation scheme made in accordance with section 22 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and associated Regulations.

Where social housing units are provided by AHBs under Payment and Availability (P&A) arrangements with local authorities, it is a condition of such funding that rents be determined in accordance with the differential rents scheme of the local authority in which the dwelling is situated, and AHBs will carry out rent reviews from time to time in accordance with the particular rents scheme in question. 

Where sheltered housing is provided by AHBs under the Capital Assistance Scheme, my Department’s guidance states that rents should be at levels which are reasonable having regard to tenant’s incomes and the outlay of the AHB on the accommodation.