Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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125. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to instances in which landlords are increasing the rental price on their properties that are inside rent pressure zones by storing personal belongings in same; if he will provide a schedule of exemptions to the rules on price increases on properties for rent inside rent pressure zones (details supplied). [43734/20]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was established as an independent statutory body under the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2020, to operate a national tenancy registration system and to facilitate the resolution of disputes between landlords and tenants. Section 3 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 provides that those Acts apply to every dwelling the subject of a tenancy, subject to certain exemptions which include situations where the landlord also resides in the building or part of the building concerned.

Due to the quasi-judicial nature of work of the RTB, it would be inappropriate for me as Minister or this Department to comment on, or to intervene in the specifics of any individual case.

Under section 100 of the Act, both parties to a dispute have a right to appeal to a RTB Tenancy Tribunal if either is unhappy with the outcome of a mediation or an adjudication in their case. Section 123(3) of the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2020 states that any of the parties concerned may appeal to the High Court, within the relevant time period, a determination of a Tribunal on a point of law.

The Planning and Development and Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2016 introduced the Rent Predictability Measure to moderate rent increases in those parts of the country where rents are highest and rising fastest, resulting in great difficulty for households finding affordable accommodation. In these areas, called Rent Pressure Zones (RPZ), rents can only increase by a maximum of 4% per annum. The annual rent increase restriction applies to both new and existing tenancies, irrespective of a change of landlord.

Not all properties in RPZs are subject to the 4% restriction.

An exemption applies to the first rent setting of a tenancy of a dwelling where:

- no tenancy existed in respect of the dwelling during the two years immediately prior to this current tenancy beginning;

or

- no tenancy existed in respect of the dwelling where the dwelling is a protected structure, or is in a protected structure or is a proposed protected structure during the 12 months immediately prior to the current tenancy beginning. A protected structure is defined in the Planning and Development Act 2000.

The Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2019 Act provides a legal definition of ‘substantial change in the nature of rental accommodation’ to illustrate the type of works to be carried out to a rental property to qualify for an exemption from the annual rent increase restriction applicable in Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs).

Such works shall result in:

- a permanent extension increasing the floor area by 25%; or

- an improvement in the Building Energy Rating (BER) by at least 7 ratings; or

at least 3 of the following:

- a permanent alteration of the internal layout;

- adaptations for a person with a disability;

- a permanent increase in the number of rooms;

- an improvement in the BER by 3 or more ratings where the original BER was D1 or lower; or

- an improvement in the BER by 2 or more ratings where the original BER was C3 or higher.