Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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89. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his views on the recommendation of an institute (details supplied) that rent pressure zones should be extended nationwide; his plans to remove the exemption for new properties and those that have not been let for two years; and if the zones will be extended when the deadline arrives at the end of 2019. [1437/19]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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1139. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to extend the date of expiration for rent pressure zones which are due to expire in December 2019; the period of time he plans to extend the zones for; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54507/18]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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1185. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans for rent pressure zones on the expiration of the three year period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1557/19]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 89, 1139 and 1185 together.

Section 24A of the Residential Tenancies Acts provides that the Housing Agency, in consultation with housing authorities, may make a proposal to me, as 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. The Housing Agency continues to monitor the rental market.

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 amended:

(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 (€1,122 per month in Q3 2018).

The RTB Rent Index Report also 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 full visibility regarding exactly where individual areas stand in relation to average rent levels and increases.

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.

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.

The RTB publishes its quarterly Rent Index and advises my Department on the residential rental market on a continuous basis. This and wider ongoing careful analysis of the rental market will inform future policy decisions in relation to the rental sector, including decisions regarding the future of RPZ designations and exemptions from the RPZ regime.