Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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HAP application processing times within local authorities vary. Once a HAP application has been received and confirmed as valid by the relevant local authority, it is entered on the system by the local authority and then submitted for processing and payment by the HAP Shared Service Centre. If there are delays at the processing stage within a local authority, payment to the landlord will be backdated to the date on which a complete and valid application form was received by the local authority. The landlord is therefore not penalised for any delay.

The earliest date a HAP payment to the landlord will apply from is the date a complete and valid HAP application has been received by the local authority. The average processing time for a Hap application is based on the average number of days arrears paid to landlords. Landlord arrears is calculated from the later of the following dates:

- Tenant occupancy date;

- Application validation date (minus 5 days); and

- Rent paid up to date.

Set out in the table is a breakdown of average HAP landlord arrears payments for the Dublin and Leinster local authorities, to the end of Q3 2019.

My Department has recently written to all local authorities to remind them of the critical need to keep processing times under review at a local level to ensure times are minimised to the greatest extent possible.