Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 January 2011
192 Deputy Charlie O’Connor asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the position in relation to the progress being made regarding a general scheme of a Bill amending the Residential Tenancies Act; when he expects the proposed Bill to be prepared; the nature of the measures he is proposing to address non-payment of rent by tenants during a dispute process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1851/11]
View answer193 Deputy Charlie O’Connor asked the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he will provide the background to the decision to set up the Private Residential Tenancies Board; his views on whether disputes between tenants and landlords could be more quickly and more efficiently dealt with by the District Court on a similar basis to the small claims process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1852/11]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 192 and 193 together.
A Commission on the Private Rented Sector was established by my Department in July 1999 to examine the working of the landlord and tenant relationship in respect of residential tenancies in the private rented sector and to make such recommendations, including changes to the law, as the Commission considered proper in order to:
improve the security of tenure of tenants in the occupation of their dwellings,
maintain a fair and reasonable balance between the respective rights and obligations of landlords and tenants, and
increase investment in, and the supply of, residential accommodation for renting, including the removal of any identified constraints to the development of the sector.
The Commission reported in July 2000 and a majority of its recommendations, including that a statutory Board to be called the Private Residential Tenancies Board be established to deal with, inter alia, disputes between residential tenants and landlords, was ultimately accepted and given statutory effect by the Residential Tenancies Act 2004.
The PRTB has been formally established since September 2004, and its principal functions are in the areas of:
The registration of private rental tenancies;
The resolution of disputes between tenants and landlords;
The provision of information, assistance and advice to the Minister on the private rental sector.
As the Board is an independent statutory body I have no function in its operational matters. However, dispute resolution statistics are published as part of the annual report of the PRTB and are available on their website at www.prtb.ie . While those statistics indicate an ongoing improvement in case processing times it is acknowledged that, partly as a consequence of the Board's success in ensuring registration compliance, and the resulting large workloads arising, processing times for dispute resolution are not yet optimal.
In November 2009, I announced the key outcomes of a review of the provisions of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 which I had initiated in order to consider whether the Act best supported the PRTB's key functions and whether legislative amendments would support either the achievement of additional operational efficiencies by the PRTB in the delivery of those functions or the broader good working of the private rented sector. These outcomes have an overall emphasis on streamlining and simplifying the Act, reducing delays and achieving additional operational efficiencies by the PRTB in the delivery of its functions. Full details in relation to the background to the review, the associated terms of reference and the outcomes of the review are available on my Department's website at www.environ.ie . An especially salient outcome is the recommendation that a statutory objective of 6 months be set for the issuing of determination orders arising out of dispute resolution applications.
I am of the view that, while further operational efficiencies can still be achieved, the PRTB provides an inexpensive route to dispute resolution for parties to private residential tenancies and I do not believe that this process could be dealt with more speedily by any other forum.
It is my intention that the General Scheme of the Bill setting out the detailed proposals arising in the context of the review of the Act will be submitted to Government early this year. Publication of the Bill thereafter will depend on the time subsequently required for drafting by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel.
It is intended that the Scheme of the Bill will address the non-payment of rent by tenants during a dispute process, in particular to introduce scope for the legal termination of such a tenancy. The payment of rent to the landlord as provided for under the tenancy concerned on the date it falls due for payment is a critical obligation of all tenants.
