Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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325. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if pension tax relief is disregarded for the purposes of calculating differential rent for social housing tenants. [6475/22]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Local authorities set and collect rents on their dwellings in accordance with section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. The making or amending of these rent schemes is an executive function and subject to broad principles set out by my Department, including that rent levels should be based on income and reflect tenants’ ability to pay.Decisions regarding the sources of income included and disregarded for rent assessment purposes are a matter for individual local authorities. Different approaches are taken to rent charging and setting across the country. Each scheme defines assessable income on which the rent is calculated, and details the sources of income considered assessable and payments that are excluded.

The Programme for Government and Housing for All commits to standardising the differential rents schemes across the country to ensure fairness. Work is ongoing in this regard and my Department will bring forward proposals for a standardised scheme, including a standard set of income disregards, in due course as part of the broader package of social housing reforms.