Written answers

Tuesday, 12 June 2018

Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government

Rental Sector

Photo of Fiona O'LoughlinFiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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1303. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his strategy to address the problem of excessive rent increases in areas outside rent pressure zones. [24839/18]

Photo of Eoghan MurphyEoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Section 24A of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, as amended, provides that the Housing Agency, in consultation with housing authorities, may make a proposal to the Minister that an area should be considered as a Rent Pressure Zone. Following receipt of such a proposal, the Minister requests the Director of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) to conduct an assessment of the area to establish whether or not it meets the criteria for designation and to report to the Minister on whether the area should be designated as a Rent Pressure Zone. For the purpose of the Act, ‘area’ is defined as either the administrative area of a housing authority or a local electoral area within the meaning of section 2 of the Local Government Act 2001. There is no provision for any other type of area to be designated as a Rent Pressure Zone.

For an area to be designated a Rent Pressure Zone, it must satisfy the following criteria set out in section 24A(4) of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (as inserted by section 36 of the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016):

(i) The annual rate of rent inflation in the area must have been 7% or more in four of the last six quarters; and

(ii) The average rent for tenancies registered in the area with the RTB in the last quarter must be above the average national rent (the National Standardised Rent in the RTB’s Rent Index Report) in the last quarter (i.e. €1,054 per month in Q4 2017).

On 21 March 2018, the RTB published its Rent Index Report in relation to Quarter 4 2017, which includes a summary of the data used as the criteria for designating Rent Pressure Zones in relation to all Local Electoral Areas in the country. This allows everyone to see exactly where their area stands in relation to average rent levels and increases and possible designation.

Rent reviews outside of Rent Pressure Zones are restricted so that a landlord can only review the rent once in any two-year period. However, similar to within Rent Pressure Zones, where there is a substantial change in the nature of the accommodation provided, for example through a major refurbishment of the property, a landlord may review the rent before the two-year period has ended and therefore many of the principles in determining what is classified as substantial change are the same. The existing requirement that the rent set is not above the market rents for similar properties still applies in designated Rent Pressure Zones and in non-designated areas.

The Housing Agency continues to monitor the rental market and may recommend further areas for designation. Where, following the procedures set out in the Act, it is found at a future date that additional areas meet the criteria, they will be designated as Rent Pressure Zones.

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