Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 31 January 2013
141. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if landlords may refuse tenants on rent supplement; the notice a landlord must give to tenants to force them to leave; and if this is a Private Residential Tenancy Board issue. [4950/13]
View answerThe Residential Tenancies Act 2004 regulates the tenant-landlord relationship in the private rented residential sector. The Act sets out the law relating to the rights and obligations of tenants and landlords in the sector covering, inter alia, security of tenure and the termination of tenancies.
The maximum duration of a tenancy under the Act is four years, after which a new tenancy must be registered with the Board. Where a tenant has been in occupation of a dwelling for a continuous period of 6 months, and no notice of termination has been served in respect of the tenancy before the expiry of the period of 6 months, the tenancy continues in being for the remainder of the four year period and this is referred to in the Act as a Part 4 tenancy. A landlord may not serve a notice of termination on such a tenant except in very clearly defined circumstances such as a failure by the tenant to comply with his or her obligations in relation to the tenancy, where the landlord intends to sell the property within 3 months after the termination of the tenancy or where the landlord requires the dwelling for his or her own occupation or for that of a family member.
The employment status of a tenant, or whether the tenant is in receipt of rent supplement, has no impact on the tenant’s legal rights to remain in the tenancy for the remainder of the Part 4 tenancy and any changes in that status cannot be used by a landlord as grounds for termination of a Part 4 tenancy.
