John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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275. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to introduce regulations or legislation to limit the number of persons permitted to occupy a bedroom or a property dependent on its size; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47369/17]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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286. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the measures he is taking to address the set of circumstances which led to the conditions shown in a report (details supplied) on RTÉ; his plans for legislation or other actions to improve dramatically Dublin City Council and other local authority management structures following the showing of the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47469/17]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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287. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans for legislation or other actions to improve dramatically Dublin City Council and other local authority management structures following the showing of a report (details supplied) recently; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47470/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 275, 286 and 287 together.

The Government's Strategy for the Rental Sector, published in December 2016, set out a series of measures to be introduced to ensure the quality of private rental accommodation by strengthening the applicable standards and improving the inspection and enforcement systems.

On 1 July 2017, updated standards, the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2017, came into effect. These regulations focus on tenant safety and include new measures covering heating appliances, carbon monoxide and window safety.  In August, my Department published a guidance document to assist and support local authorities in implementing the 2017 regulations.

Additional resources for inspection and enforcement are also being provided.  Over the four years to the end of 2017, a total of €7.5m has been provided to local authorities for inspection purposes.  However, the rental strategy recognised the need for additional resources to support increased inspection of properties and ensure greater compliance with the regulations.  Provision has been made to start this process with an allocation of €2.5m in 2018. The intention is to earmark further increases over the period to 2021, by which point it is envisaged that €10m will be provided annually, achieving an inspection coverage of 25% of rental properties each year.

The issues of inconsistency and differences in capacity across local authorities are being addressed under the Rental Strategy.  Work is underway to build a more efficient, standardised and transparent inspections and enforcement approach across all local authority areas.  My Department, the Residential Tenancies Board and local authorities are working together to develop a national system of shared support services covering ICT, legal services, training and capacity development and resource and performance management.  This will mean that best practice approaches that work well in some local authorities will be developed and replicated across the system, taking advantage of economies of scale and ensuring that all local authorities have the appropriate personnel and systems in place, not only for inspection but also to act promptly and effectively when non-compliance is found.

It is also my intention to introduce further measures to ensure that landlords meet their obligations in relation to quality, safety and compliance with regulations and standards.  Landlords, when registering a tenancy with the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), will be required to certify that the property in question is compliant with regulations relating to standards for rental accommodation, overcrowding and fire safety. In tandem, annual registration with the RTB will be introduced, effectively requiring annual certification by the landlord.  Failure to provide this certification, failure to register the tenancy or the provision of an untrue certification will all constitute offences, prosecutable by the RTB.

The 1966 Housing Act already establishes effective limits on the numbers of people that can occupy the same bedroom.  The Act requires that there is at least 400 cubic feet of free air space for each person in a bedroom.  It also provides that people of opposite sexes, who are not living as a couple, cannot be required to sleep in the same room.

The local authorities are responsible for enforcement.  Under the Act, a local authority can prohibit the use of an overcrowded dwelling, irrespective of whether it is being let or not, and can serve notice on the owner of a dwelling specifying the maximum number of persons that may occupy it without causing overcrowding.  If the owner of a house is causing or permitting the house to be overcrowded, the authority can require the owner to desist from causing or permitting such overcrowding within a period not exceeding twenty-one days.  Any person who neglects or refuses to comply with these requirements is guilty of an offence.

In the context of legislative changes in relation to the rental sector, particular attention will be given to possible amendments to the provisions in relation to overcrowding, both in terms of its legal definition and the enforcement actions and sanctions applicable to such situations.