Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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268. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the steps he is taking to facilitate increased compliance with the Residential Tenancies Board; the measures he plans to implement to increase Residential Tenancies Board investigations, inspections and enforcement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42684/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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On 1 July 2019, the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act expanded the role of the Residential Tenancy Board (RTB) to investigate and sanction landlords who engage in certain breaches of the law, defined in the Act as Improper Conduct. This brought about a fundamental change in the operation of the RTB by expanding its regulatory remit.

The breaches of rental law that the Investigations & Sanctions (I&S) unit can investigate include; failure to comply with RPZ requirements; failure to register a tenancy; a reason given on a notice of termination that is known to be false or misleading; and failure to offer a tenant their tenancy back when certain conditions have been met. The RTB also has the power to apply sanctions if breaches are found to have occurred, ranging from a formal written caution and/or a fine of up to €15,000 and/or costs up to €15,000.

The RTB has set up a dedicated I&S Unit which includes 15 staff members with a collective experience in conducting civil and criminal investigations in other regulatory and enforcement bodies as well as significant internal knowledge of the RTB and the Residential Tenancies Act.

An increase of €2M in Current Exchequer Funding was made available to the RTB in 2020, bringing the total amount of funding for operational costs for the RTB to €9M and an additional €2M in Current Exchequer funding for RTB operational costs has been secured in Budget 2021.

The RTB received sanction for an additional 29 staff in 2019 in order that it would be resourced to deliver on its broadened mandate and sanction for a further additional 5 staff was granted in July 2020 following the Residential Tenancies and Valuations Act 2020. 

The increase in funding and staff provided to the RTB is designed to ensure that the new legislative provisions introduced in both 2019 and 2020 are fully and forcefully implemented.

RTB investigators (Authorised Officers) have wide-ranging and significant investigative powers provided for in the Act including the power to inspect premises, compel persons to assist with the investigation by producing certain documents or attending an interview or oral hearing.

The RTB investigations and sanctions regime allows proportionality to be applied to the sanctioning of potential breaches. Landlords are also given the opportunity to acknowledge the breach at an early stage. An acknowledgement of improper conduct and the extent and timeliness of any steps taken by the landlord to end the improper conduct and to remedy its consequences may also be taken into consideration by independent Decision Makers. All sanctions recommended by the Decision Makers must be confirmed by the Circuit Court. Once confirmed by the Court the decision is issued to the landlord and the complainant, if applicable and is published by the RTB.

Since 1 July 2019 the RTB has analysed over 1,000 contacts from members of the public to its dedicated Investigations channel as well as data from the RTB’s own systems, open source data from rental websites and advertising platforms, and data shared with the RTB from local authorities and the Department of Employment and Social Protection to identify potential breaches of rental law that can be investigated.

To the end of quarter 3 2020 over 250 investigations were approved. The most common allegation investigated to date is breach of Rent Pressure Zone requirements.

To date over €75,000 has been refunded to current and former tenants as a direct result of the investigation process. Over 50 decisions have been made by the independent decision makers. Once decisions have been confirmed by the Circuit Court and the Court Order issued to the landlord the Order will be published on the RTB’s website.

In 2021, the Investigations and Sanctions unit will continue to develop its risk based approach to proactive investigation of suspected improper conduct by landlords.This would mean that the RTB is using its resources to best effect to target investigations where the risk to past, present or future tenants is the highest thus building public trust and confidence in the RTB as a credible regulator.

In 2021, the RTB will continue to develop and implement a stakeholder engagement plan which will communicate the role and impact of the new Investigations and Sanctions function to encourage compliance with rental law including the publication of Court confirmed sanctions. In addition, it will focus on sharing key metrics which demonstrate the overall societal impact of the RTB’s expanded regulatory remit and will demonstrate how landlords can comply as well as the implications of non-compliance.

The RTB will also continue to commence new investigations with priority on investigating allegations of improper conduct raised by members of the public and other government agencies through concerns and formal written complaints.

More information on the RTB’s Investigation and Sanction function is available on the RTB website