Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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532. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of fines and or prosecutions levied against building owners under section 65 of the Housing Act 1966; the number of unsuccessful prosecutions under this section, by year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50735/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The information requested by the Deputy is not collected by my Department.

The issue of overcrowded dwellings is dealt with in Part IV of the Housing Act 1966. Under that Act, a housing authority may request information from the owner or occupier of a house such as will allow that authority to determine if a house can be deemed to be overcrowded, having regard to section 63 of the Act.

The housing authority may serve notice on the owner of a house specifying the maximum number of persons that may occupy a house without causing overcrowding and, where the owner of a house is causing or permitting the house to be overcrowded, may require the owner to desist from causing or permitting such overcrowding within a period not exceeding 21 days.

Any person who neglects or refuses to comply with these requirements is guilty of an offence. Overcrowding may give rise to concerns in respect of fire safety, and may lead to enforcement action by fire authorities.  Situations of overcrowding should be reported to the relevant local authority.

I will shortly be introducing changes to legislation to require landlords, when registering a tenancy with the RTB, to certify that the property in question is compliant with regulations in relation to standards for rental accommodation, overcrowding and fire safety. This will mean a legally enforceable requirement on landlords to certify the quality and safety of their rental properties.  Failure to provide this certification, failure to register the tenancy or, very importantly, the provision of an untrue certification, will all constitute offences, prosecutable by the RTB.

The RTB will play a key role in terms of standards and enforcement in the rental sector, and will be given the powers and the resources required to take on this enhanced regulatory responsibility. I have previously stated that this will entail a substantial programme of work that would need to be undertaken over a number of years.  However, priority is being given to exploring, as a matter of urgency, the changes needed in legislation and in the Board’s financing arrangements in order to make early progress in the process that will progressively see the RTB become the sector’s regulator over the next two years.

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.