Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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355. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if there are rules in place in respect of the rents charged by approved housing bodies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41536/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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My Department provides a range of funding streams, through local authorities, to assist AHBs with the delivery of social housing, examples of which include the Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) with a Payment and Availability Agreement, or the Capital Assistance Scheme (CAS). The Capital Loan Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) was closed to new applications in 2011.

The terms and conditions, including rent setting, of these funding schemes are set out in my Department's Memorandum on Capital Funding Schemes for the Provision of Rental Accommodation by Approved Housing Bodies (Voluntary and Co - Operative Rental Housing): VHU: 2/02 of May 2002 and related circulars, and the relevant mortgage, loan agreements and Payment and Availability Agreements in force between the relevant local authority and AHB.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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356. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if approved housing bodies can apply ‘key money’ or entrance charges to new residents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41537/23]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Where a vacancy arises in a dwelling owned by an AHB, the relevant local authority may nominate suitable households from its housing or transfer list to that body, having regard to the order of priority set out in its allocation scheme.

If an AHB is in receipt of funding under a relevant Exchequer funding scheme, they must comply with the terms and conditions of that scheme. AHBs may also, in consultation with the relevant local authority, make their own nominations for a proportion of tenancies in accordance with the relevant funding rules for tenancies in a housing project funded under a capital scheme. Under such funding schemes (made available through local authorities), the AHB is required to make the property available for social renting for the duration of the mortgage or, as the case may be, the availability agreement.

It is a matter for the governing board of an individual AHB to determine how property, which is solely owned by the AHB without any mortgage or debt funding in place, is allocated to tenants in accordance with their constitution. All AHB tenancies are registered with the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) and therefore this channel should be the primary recourse in terms of procedures in any tenant/landlord matters.

As provided for in the Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Act 2019, the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority (AHBRA) was formally established on 1 February 2021. One of the objectives of AHBRA is to provide further assurances to investors, tenants, the Government and to the sector itself that social housing providers operate in a well-regulated and stable environment.

The Regulator can cancel the registration of an AHB on a number of different grounds. If the Regulator considers it necessary for the protection of tenants of dwellings, the Regulator will, by notice and with consent, require an AHB to transfer such dwellings to another AHB identified by the Regulator or to a Housing Authority if the Regulator considers it appropriate. The Regulator can also seek a High Court Order if it is necessary for the purpose of the protection of the tenants of dwellings provided or managed by an AHB.

It is open to any individual, to raise a concern about an AHB with AHBRA at concerns@ahbregulator.ie which will be screened to consider whether they fall within AHBRA's remit and compliance with the relevant Act. Further information is available on the AHBRA website www.ahbregulator.ie