Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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332. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of private rented accommodation inspections carried out by local authorities in each of the years 2018 to 2021 and to date in 2022; the number of inspections in which further enforcement action was taken in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3585/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 specify requirements in relation to a range of matters, such as structural repair, sanitary facilities, heating, ventilation, natural light, fire safety and the safety of gas, oil and electrical installations. All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with these regulations. Responsibility for the enforcement of the Regulations rests with the relevant local authority.

To aid increased inspections of properties and ensure greater compliance with the Regulations, increased Exchequer funding has been made available to local authorities since 2018 to enable them to build inspection capacity, with payments based on the number of inspections undertaken. Significant progress was made across the sector. The number of inspections more than doubled from 19,645 in 2017 to 40,728 in 2019. However, given the need for inspectors to enter tenants’ homes, pandemic restrictions have greatly impacted on inspection activity since March 2020. The number of inspections undertaken in 2020 fell to 25,703.

If a property has been found to be non-compliant with the regulations, it is a matter for the local authority to determine what action is necessary and appropriate, including the issuing of an improvement letter, the serving of improvement or prohibition notices, or further legal recourse.

The number of private rental inspections undertaken, improvement letters issued and improvement and prohibition notices served in the years 2018, 2019, 2020 and to the end Q3 2021 is set out in the table below:

* Since 2019 local authorities have supplied the Department with separate figures for Improvement Letters and Improvement Notices

Detailed information in relation to the number of inspections and enforcement actions undertaken in Q4 2021 is currently being collated by my Department and full-year data for 2021 will be available on the Department's website in due course at:

www.gov.ie/en/publication/da3fe-private-housing-market-statistics/.