Written answers

Tuesday, 7 March 2023

Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government

State Bodies

Photo of Jennifer Murnane O'ConnorJennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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302. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if there are plans to address communication issues with the RTB, including delays in response times to queries from the public, landlords and renters; if there are adequate staff allocated to the board to address issues arising; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11244/23]

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was established as a quasi-judicial independent statutory body under the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2022 (RTA) to regulate the rental sector; provide information to tenants and landlords; maintain a national register of tenancies; resolve disputes between tenants and landlords; and conduct research and provide information to inform policy). The remit of the RTB covers the private rental sector, the not-for-profit housing providers commonly known as Approved Housing Bodies (AHBs) and Student-specific Accommodation providers (SSA).

Following the passing of legislation in 2019, with effect from 4 April 2022, landlords are required to register their tenancies with the RTB every year, within one month of the anniversary of when the tenancy began. This applies to both new and existing tenancies.

Following recommendations in the RTB Workforce Plan (2018 – 2021) and engagement with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (DPER), the RTB received sanction for significant additional staff over the past three years. The RTB has a sanctioned staffing compliment of 110. It currently has 100 permanent staff and is carrying 10 vacancies. The RTB is actively recruiting to fill the remaining vacancies and to date this year, the RTB has appointed 15 new recruits to permanent positions. Separately, on 18 January 2023 DPER sanctioned an additional Principal Officer post, who will have responsibility for Digital and Data Services, within the RTB Executive Management Team Structure which is now advertised on the RTB website. Additional funding of €2m will be provide to the RTB for 2023, bringing its total allocation to €13.37m.

The RTB is also supported by a third party outsourced service provider who carries out the RTB’s call centre, document management and data entry functions. This contract gives the RTB the flexibility to increase resources as and when required. The outsourcer’s staff are not RTB employees. The RTB has recently almost doubled the staffing in its outsourced call centre to deal with the issues that have arisen following the introduction of annual registration and it has been working hard to find the right balance between ensuring contracted staff are adequately trained and capable of assisting customers with their queries, ranging from linking tenancies, verifying accounts, and data-inputting paper applications. My Department will continue to work with the RTB to ensure it is sufficiently resourced to deliver on its expanded mandate, including any specific requests with regard to annual registration.

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