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Departmental Properties

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 February 2013

Tuesday, 12 February 2013

Questions (143)

John Halligan

Question:

143. Deputy John Halligan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of rent reductions that have been negotiated between tenants in fishery harbour centres and his Department in each of the past two years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6923/13]

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Written answers

My Department owns and operates, under Statute, six Fishery Harbour Centres at Killybegs, Ros an Mhíl, Dingle, Castletownbere, Dunmore East and Howth. Properties located in the Fishery Harbour Centres are, when appropriate, offered for tenancy under lease or licence agreements. An individual agreement, which is a formal legally binding document on both parties, is voluntarily signed at the outset by the tenant. My Department currently has in the region of 140 property agreements in place in the six Fishery Harbour Centres.

Property agreements are complex instruments and the specific terms of those agreements held with my Department vary. Of the total in place approximately 80 property agreements do not contain rent review clauses which require rent to be static or increased in the subsequent period. These include short-term licence agreements and pending lease agreements.

Any property agreements entered into subsequent to the application of Section 132 of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 contain rent review clauses in which the rent payable following the review may be fixed at an amount which is less than, greater than or the same as the amount of rent payable immediately prior to the date on which the rent falls to be reviewed.

In the region of 60 lease agreements contain rent review clauses which require static or increased rent to be applied for the subsequent period. All 60 of the property agreements that contain such rent review clauses were signed prior to the application of Section 132 of the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act, 2009. These agreements generally require rent reviews to be conducted every five years.

The most recent round of rent reviews on these agreements related to the period up to mid 2008. A number of the rental valuations determined by the qualified valuer, appointed by the Department following a tender competition, were disputed by the tenants. The rent review dispute procedures set out in the tenants’ leases were followed and in some cases the independent experts recommended a decrease in the revised valuation determined by the valuer acting on behalf of the Department.

I am acutely aware of the economic situation facing businesses and small enterprises and following the completion of rent reviews due for the period up to mid 2008 I decided in 2011 that no rent reviews would be carried out for years subsequent to 2008 and that zero rent increases would be applied across the board. I have recently decided to continue this approach in relation to rent reviews due in 2013 and a zero rent increase will be applied in all such cases.

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