Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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606. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if there are circumstances in which a landlord's payment from the local authority in respect of rent due can be withheld, totally or partially, in the event of the tenant not paying their weekly rent contribution to the local authority in respect of HAP. [43803/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) scheme is a flexible and immediate housing support that is now available to all eligible households throughout the State. There are currently more than 28,000 households having their housing needs met via HAP and some 20,000 separate landlords and agents currently in receipt of HAP payments. A weekly average of 348 HAP tenancies have been set-up during 2017.

HAP is a form of social housing support under which local authorities will make monthly payments on behalf of tenants directly to landlords in respect of rent, subject to the terms and conditions of the scheme. All the terms and conditions of the HAP scheme for both tenants and landlords are available on the dedicated HAP website, , and associated HAP documentation.

HAP tenants are required to sign a rent contribution agreement to pay a weekly rental contribution to the local authority in line with the local authority’s differential rent scheme. As set out in the rent contribution agreement, this weekly rental contribution must be paid by them so that they remain eligible for the HAP scheme. HAP recipients are required to set up automatic electronic rent payment arrangements.

The HAP Shared Service Centre (SSC) manages the collection of all HAP tenants’ differential rents, on behalf of the relevant local authority, and the payment of all HAP rents to landlords on behalf of tenants supported by the HAP scheme. The HAP SSC applies a very clear communication policy if rental arrears issues arise. This policy includes regular and early written communication with tenants, landlords and the relevant local authority.

Outside the formal notification letters there would always be attempts to contact the tenants by phone and by email to settle accounts and avoid escalation of the debt process. Depending on the activity of arrears in question, both the relevant local authority and the landlord are informed when an account has not been cleared and of possible suspension and/or cessation of the HAP payment. However, in the vast majority of cases a payment plan to deal with the arrears is agreed between the tenant and the local authority, before there is any necessity to advise the landlord.

If the tenant does not contact their local authority or does not enter into a payment arrangement within 8 weeks of the arrears commencing, both the landlord and the tenant are informed that the HAP payment may be ceased. To date the approach has been very effective with minimal levels of rent arrears arising for HAP tenants. In 2016, when 12,075 additional households were supported by HAP, the scheme had a 99% differential rent collection rate, with minimal arrears arising for tenants or local authorities. Therefore, a very small number of tenants have fallen in to difficulty with their differential rent. In 99.7% of cases where the tenant has had difficulty, this has been resolved with their local authority without any impact on the landlord’s payment. Therefore the likelihood of a HAP payment to a landlord being suspended or stopped is very small and occurs in only a very limited number of cases.

My Department continues to keep the operation of the HAP scheme under review. In general, I am satisfied with the operation of the HAP scheme and I consider it to be a key vehicle for meeting housing need and fulfilling the ambitious programme under the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness.