Written answers

Wednesday, 14 May 2025

Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government

Rental Sector

Photo of Pádraig RicePádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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106. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will respond to matters raised in correspondence (details supplied); if he will request his Department to investigate this matter to ensure that all inspections are fulfilling their legal obligations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24714/25]

Photo of James BrowneJames Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 and 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 supplies. These Regulations apply to all properties let or available for let, including those where the tenancy is Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) supported. All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with the standards set down in the Regulations.

Responsibility for the enforcement of the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 in the private rental sector rests with the relevant local authority.

My Department has no operational role in the inspection of private rental accommodation under these regulations. Local authorities are by law (Section 63(1) of the Local Government Act 2001) independent in the performance of their functions. As a result, I am prevented from intervening in relation to the procedures followed, or decisions made, by local authorities in the implementation of their private rental inspection regime and resulting enforcement actions.

It should be noted that a rented dwelling that fails a rental inspection can, in certain circumstances, be subsequently deemed compliant without recourse to a re-inspection, because the landlord has provided evidence of compliance via email, such as a periodic inspection report for electrical installations or a declaration of conformance certificate for gas installations.

If a tenant is not satisfied with the manner in which their local authority has conducted the inspection process, they can make a complaint to them directly. Details regarding the complaints procedure should be available on the individual local authority's website.

If having fully exhausted the local authority complaints procedure, a tenant feels that they have not had their complaint dealt with properly, the Office of the Ombudsman examine complaints relating to public services in Ireland, including local authorities. The Office of the Ombudsman has an online complaint form on their website www.ombudsman.ie or they can be contacted on phone number 01 639 5600.

The Government is committed to ensuring that a stock of high quality accommodation is available for those who live in the private rented sector. A total of €10.5 million in Exchequer funding is being made available by my Department to local authorities this year to help them meet their private rental inspection targets. In this regard, the number of inspections conducted has quadrupled in recent years. They have increased from an average of 20,000 a year in the period 2005 to 2017 to over 49,000 in 2022, over 63,500 inspections in 2023, and an all-time-high of over 80,000 in 2024.

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