Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

350. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of HAP properties inspected in County Galway by Galway County Council in 2018, 2019, 2020 and to date in 2021, in tabular form. [29845/21]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The minimum standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019.  All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with these Regulations. Responsibility for enforcement of the Regulations rests with the relevant local authority. 

Local authorities report to my Department on numbers of overall inspections carried out and enforcement actions undertaken on a quarterly basis. The most recent data received in respect of the number of inspections of all private rental properties and those with HAP tenancies is set out in the table below: 

The following is the HAP Inspections breakdown for Galway County Council:

Significant Exchequer funding has been made available to local authorities in recent years to aid increasing inspections.  Funding has increased four-fold from €2.5m in 2018 to €10m in 2021. The increase in rental inspection figures in Galway reflects this increase in resources. Galway has been pro-active with regard to inspections and their 2020 figure would most likely be higher if not for Covid.

Given the need for inspectors to enter tenants’ homes, Covid-19 pandemic restrictions have impacted on the inspection of all rented dwellings – not just those with HAP tenancies. The City and County Management Association’s Local Authority Resilience and Recovery Plan for living with Covid-19 (October 2020) and its subsequent Local Authority Services Framework for Future Covid-19 Pandemic Response (January 2021) do not permit rental inspections in Levels 4 and 5. This is in order to protect tenants, landlords and rental inspectors.

In response to the difficulties caused by pandemic restrictions, some local authorities have been piloting virtual inspections. Dublin City Council have led this initiative which entails landlords receiving a checklist for self-assessment and being required to submit photographic/video evidence by email, tenants being invited to raise any non-compliance issues they are aware of and being asked to confirm that any remedial works requested by the local authority have been completed, and the Council reserving the right to conduct a physical on-site inspection when it is safe to so.

While virtual inspection systems present certain challenges and limitations, they do offer a way of improving the standard of rental accommodation despite the pandemic. I support these initiatives and my Department is encouraging local authorities not involved in the pilots to consider adopting them. I have committed to providing Exchequer funding for those that do. Galway County Council have expressed interest in the virtual inspection process.