Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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870.To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if legislation will be amended in respect to the RTB whereby if the landlord has a letting agent, that agent is not subject to the RTB, and is not obliged to identify the landlord they are acting on behalf of; thus meaning tenants are unable to secure their legal tenancy rights.[35540/24]

Darragh 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 2004-2024 (the RTA) to operate a national tenancy registration system and to facilitate the resolution of disputes between landlords and tenants.

Section 134 of the RTA requires a landlord to apply to the RTB to register a tenancy of a dwelling within one month of its commencement and thereafter, within one month of the anniversary of its commencement. All private landlords, Approved Housing Bodies and providers of Student Specific Accommodation (SSA) and Cost Rental homes are required to register their tenancies/SSA licences with the RTB.

Section 136 of the RTA requires, inter alia, that when a landlord is registering a tenancy with the RTB, ‘the name, address where the landlord ordinarily resides, any other address for correspondence the landlord may wish to provide and the personal public service number (if any) of the landlord and, where the application is made by his or her authorised agent, the name, address for correspondence and personal public service number (if any) of the agent’, and ’such other matters as may be prescribed’, must be provided as part of the application process.

The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (Prescribed Forms) Regulations 2022 sets out the prescribed form to be completed by landlords when applying to register a tenancy in compliance with section 134 of the RTA, which includes a requirement for the landlord’s date of birth.

For data protection reasons, the names of landlords and tenants are not published on the RTB’s public register of tenancies.

A tenant can refer a dispute for resolution to the RTB under section 76 of the RTA and is fully protected, irrespective of whether or not they know the identity of their landlord including where their tenancy has not been registered with the RTB.

Section 28 of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2024, published on 24 July 2024, provides for enhanced data sharing between the Revenue Commissioners and the RTB to further assist, inter alia, in identifying parties to tenancies.