Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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330. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the current law with regard to evictions during Covid-19 and the way in which it might be amended if there is a change in the level under which it is operating; if there is a difference between eviction for arrears due to loss of earnings due to Covid-19 and evictions for other reasons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10167/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Residential Tenancies Act 2020 was enacted and came into operation on 24 October 2020 to help mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on tenants and to support the efforts of Government in restricting the movement of people in order to suppress the spread of Covid-19. The Act modifies the operation of the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2020 to prevent any notices of termination served by landlords, in all but limited cases such as anti-social behaviour, from taking effect in geographical locations and during periods specified by the Minister for Health in Regulations made by him under section 31A of the Health Act 1947 in respect of which a restriction applies on the movement of people outside a 5 km radius of their place of residence. The tenancy protections also apply during the 10 days directly following the period specified by the Minister for Health in the aforementioned Regulations.

A moratorium on evictions taking place is currently in operation throughout the country from 31 December 2020 to 15 March 2021, with limited exceptions. The provisions of the Residential Tenancies Act 2020 re-activated on foot of the current 5km restriction on people’s movements, initially provided under the Health Act 1947 (Section 31A - Temporary Restrictions) (Covid-19) (No. 10) Regulations 2020 - Statutory Instrument (S.I.) No. 701 of 2020 and subsequently, extended under the Health Act 1947 (Section 31A - Temporary Restrictions) (Covid-19) (No. 10) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2021 (S.I No. 29 of 2021). The Minister for Health is empowered to make Regulations to provide for any further extension to the 5km restriction on people's movement, as necessary to strengthen Government efforts to suppress the spread of Covid-19. If further regulations are made restricting peoples movements to 5km then the protections provided for in the Residential Tenancies Act 2020 will automatically apply. On 23 February, the Government announced that level 5 restrictions will remain in place until 5 April. Therefore, the moratorium on evictions will be extended to 15 April once regulations, currently being prepared by my colleague the Minister for Health, are made.

Separately, the provisions of Part 3 (Residential Tenancies) of the Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Act 2020 came into effect on 11 January 2021 to provide for temporary modifications to the operation of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 to provide, subject to certain conditions, that during the period from 11 January to 12 April 2021 a 90 day (rather than the usual 28 days) termination notice period applies, where a tenant is in rent arrears due to Covid-19 and is at risk of losing their tenancy. The earliest termination date allowed in such circumstances is 13 April 2021. Rent increases are prohibited for relevant tenancies until 13 April 2021, with no back-dating allowed. These new protections are designed to better balance the legal rights of landlords and tenants.

My Department has published a guidance document, Part 3 (Residential Tenancies) of the Planning and Development, and Residential Tenancies, Act 2020 - Guidance for Landlords and Tenants, which sets out the new rental protections for tenants and landlords dealing with rent arrears that succeed those provided under the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Act 2020, and provides details on the income and other supports available to tenants and landlords. The guidance document clearly explains the new rent arrears procedure for both tenants and landlords and is available on the RTB's website - www.rtb.ie.