I must now deal with a postponed division relating to the motion on private rental sector standards. On Tuesday, 7 November 2017, on the question that amendment No. 2 to the motion be agreed to, a division was claimed and in accordance with Standing Order 70(2), that division must be taken now.
Private Rental Sector Standards: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]
The following motion was moved by Deputy Eoin Ó Broin on Tuesday, 7 November 2017:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes, with alarm, the revelations regarding breaches of minimum standards in the private rental sector contained in last weeks RTÉ Investigates documentary ‘Nightmare to Let’;
further notes that:
— in 2016 only four per cent of private rental properties were inspected by local authorities;
— in 2016 two thirds of inspected properties were not compliant with minimum standards regulations;
— local authorities have failed to adequately enforce standards in the private rental sector;
— central government has failed to adequately resource local authorities to carry out their enforcement functions with respect to the private rental sector; and
— significant numbers of tenants continue to live in unacceptable and substandard private rented accommodation; and
calls for:
— the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government to set out, as a matter of urgency, a plan for ensuring compliance with minimum standards regulations in the private rental sector;
— the Government to adequately resource local authorities, to ensure that a comprehensive inspection and enforcement regime is put in place;
— the Government to support the proposal by Threshold for an NCT-type certification system for private rented housing to further strengthen compliance with legal standards;
— the Government to review the penalties faced by landlords, to ensure adequate sanctions for those that fail to register tenancies or who fail to meet minimum standards; and
— the Government to publish an annual report detailing levels of private rental sector inspections and enforcement in each local authority.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 2:
To delete all words after “further notes that” and substitute the following:
“— successive governments have put in place a system of regulation for the private rental sector dependent on vulnerable tenants complaining about breaches of regulations to councils or the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) rather than preventative State enforcement;
— in 2016 only four per cent of private rental properties were inspected by local authorities;
— in 2016 two thirds of inspected properties were not compliant with minimum standards regulations;
— local authorities have failed to adequately enforce standards in the private rental sector;
— central government has failed to adequately resource local authorities to carry out their enforcement functions with respect to the private rental sector;
— significant numbers of tenants continue to live in unacceptable and substandard private rented accommodation whereby people’s lives are being endangered by the drive for profit of unscrupulous landlords; and
— the inadequate legislation in relation to overcrowding, which is not covered under current minimum standards regulations for the private rental sector, and the lack of regulation of student accommodation; and
calls for:
— the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government to set out, as a matter of urgency, a plan for ensuring compliance with and improving minimum standards regulations in the private rental sector;
— the Government to review the penalties faced by landlords, to ensure adequate sanctions, including seizing assets of non-compliant landlords, prison sentences and large fines to allow increased compensation for tenants, for those that fail to register tenancies or who fail to meet minimum standards;
— the Government to support the proposal for an NCT-type certification system for private rented housing to further strengthen compliance with legal standards, and as part of this to adequately resource local authorities to ensure that a comprehensive inspection and enforcement regime is put in place, including by hiring 500-750 new local authority inspectors to establish and oversee the new certification system and to ensure that one third to a half of all rental properties are inspected annually from next year;
— the Government to guarantee that undocumented migrants be permitted to make complaints about accommodation standards without fear of deportation or other legal consequences;
— the Government to publish an annual report detailing levels of private rental sector inspections and enforcement in each local authority;
— the Government to democratise the RTB to ensure tenant representation and significantly increase resources to the agency to enable it to properly police registration and compliance with private rental sector regulations, including rent caps under the Rent Pressure Zones, and the introduction of a deposit protection scheme;
— the Government to reverse the burden of proof from tenants to landlords in relation to breaches of rent caps under the Rent Pressure Zones, by mandating that landlords receive a certificate of compliance from the RTB before setting rents on a property;
— the Government to close loopholes in the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 that allow landlords to circumvent Rent Pressure Zone regulations under the guise of property refurbishment and to apply the rent caps to new properties;
— the Government to introduce new legislation on overcrowding, particularly in relation to pre-1963 properties;
— the Government to review legislation on multi-occupancy units and on student accommodation, which currently falls outside of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, to improve protections for students; and
— the Government to reverse its failed policy of outsourcing ‘social housing’ to the private rental sector through the Housing Assistance Payment and to build or acquire at least 40,000 new public social and affordable homes next year instead.”
- (Deputy Mick Barry)
Amendment put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 15; Níl, 116; Staon, 1.
Tá
- Barry, Mick.
- Boyd Barrett, Richard.
- Broughan, Thomas P.
- Collins, Joan.
- Connolly, Catherine.
- Coppinger, Ruth.
- Daly, Clare.
- Healy, Seamus.
- Kenny, Gino.
- Martin, Catherine.
- Murphy, Catherine.
- Murphy, Paul.
- Ryan, Eamon.
- Shortall, Róisín.
- Smith, Bríd.
Níl
- Aylward, Bobby.
- Bailey, Maria.
- Barrett, Seán.
- Brady, John.
- Brassil, John.
- Breathnach, Declan.
- Brophy, Colm.
- Browne, James.
- Bruton, Richard.
- Buckley, Pat.
- Burke, Peter.
- Burton, Joan.
- Butler, Mary.
- Byrne, Thomas.
- Cahill, Jackie.
- Calleary, Dara.
- Canney, Seán.
- Cannon, Ciarán.
- Carey, Joe.
- Casey, Pat.
- Cassells, Shane.
- Chambers, Jack.
- Chambers, Lisa.
- Collins, Michael.
- Coveney, Simon.
- Cowen, Barry.
- Creed, Michael.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Cullinane, David.
- Curran, John.
- D'Arcy, Michael.
- Daly, Jim.
- Deering, Pat.
- Doherty, Pearse.
- Doherty, Regina.
- Donnelly, Stephen S.
- Donohoe, Paschal.
- Dooley, Timmy.
- Doyle, Andrew.
- Durkan, Bernard J.
- Ellis, Dessie.
- English, Damien.
- Farrell, Alan.
- Ferris, Martin.
- Fitzgerald, Frances.
- Fitzmaurice, Michael.
- Fitzpatrick, Peter.
- Flanagan, Charles.
- Fleming, Sean.
- Funchion, Kathleen.
- Gallagher, Pat The Cope.
- Griffin, Brendan.
- Harris, Simon.
- Harty, Michael.
- Haughey, Seán.
- Heydon, Martin.
- Howlin, Brendan.
- Humphreys, Heather.
- Kehoe, Paul.
- Kelleher, Billy.
- Kelly, Alan.
- Kenny, Martin.
- Kyne, Seán.
- Lahart, John.
- Lawless, James.
- Lowry, Michael.
- McConalogue, Charlie.
- McEntee, Helen.
- McGrath, Finian.
- McGrath, Michael.
- McGuinness, John.
- McLoughlin, Tony.
- Madigan, Josepha.
- Mitchell O'Connor, Mary.
- Mitchell, Denise.
- Moran, Kevin Boxer.
- Moynihan, Aindrias.
- Moynihan, Michael.
- Munster, Imelda.
- Murphy O'Mahony, Margaret.
- Naughten, Denis.
- Naughton, Hildegarde.
- Neville, Tom.
- Nolan, Carol.
- Noonan, Michael.
- Ó Broin, Eoin.
- Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.
- Ó Cuív, Éamon.
- Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
- O'Brien, Jonathan.
- O'Callaghan, Jim.
- O'Connell, Kate.
- O'Dea, Willie.
- O'Donovan, Patrick.
- O'Dowd, Fergus.
- O'Keeffe, Kevin.
- O'Loughlin, Fiona.
- O'Reilly, Louise.
- O'Rourke, Frank.
- O'Sullivan, Jan.
- Penrose, Willie.
- Phelan, John Paul.
- Quinlivan, Maurice.
- Rabbitte, Anne.
- Ring, Michael.
- Rock, Noel.
- Ross, Shane.
- Ryan, Brendan.
- Sherlock, Sean.
- Smyth, Niamh.
- Stanley, Brian.
- Stanton, David.
- Tóibín, Peadar.
- Troy, Robert.
- Zappone, Katherine.
Staon
- McGrath, Mattie.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Ruth Coppinger and Gino Kenny; Níl, Deputies Eoin Ó Broin and Denise Mitchell.
Amendment declared lost.
Motion agreed to.