John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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1825. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the amount being made available to local authorities in 2018 for rental property inspections; the percentage of rental properties that will be inspected in 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1896/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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The 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.

Since the establishment of the RTB, over €34 million has been paid to local authorities to assist them in the performance of their functions under the Housing Acts, including the inspection of rented accommodation.  Over 185,000 inspections were carried out during this period.

However, the Rental Strategy recognises the need for additional resources to be provided to local authorities to facilitate increased inspections of properties and ensure greater compliance with the Regulations.  Provision has been made for an allocation of €2.5 million in 2018, with the intention of providing further increases each year in the period to 2021 to enable targeted inspection coverage of 25% of rental properties annually.

The Working Group on Rental Standards, comprising representatives of my Department, local authorities and the Residential Tenancies Board, will be examining resource and performance management issues including budget allocation, target setting and performance monitoring and reporting as part of its work programme for the first half of 2018.