Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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268. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government his plans to retain the rent pressure zones beyond December 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2127/19]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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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.

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.