Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 May 2013
122. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Social Protection if her attention has been drawn to the fact that at present a person in receipt of rent supplement is able to not pay the rent to their landlord, that her Department can be aware that this is happening, but no action can be taken by her Department to stop a person receiving the rent supplement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22013/13]
View answer123. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will consider introducing a system whereby landlords would have to sign off each month to show that they have received rent from a tenant in receipt of rent supplement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22014/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 122 and 123 together.
The purpose of rent supplement is to provide short-term support to eligible people living in private rented accommodation, whose means are insufficient to meet their accommodation costs and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source. The overall aim is to provide short term assistance, and not to act as an alternative to the other social housing schemes operated by the Exchequer. There are currently approximately 86,000 rent supplement recipients for which the Government has provided over €403 million for 2013.
Under the legislative provisions governing rent supplement, the Department’s relationship is with the tenant; the tenant makes the application for rent supplement and payment is made to the tenant. Rent supplement is specifically for the benefit of tenants to assist them with their accommodation needs. There is no direct relationship between the landlord and the Department in the administration of the scheme. However, social welfare legislation provides for the payment of a rent supplement payment to a nominated payee such as a landlord on behalf of the tenant. This arrangement is entered at the tenant’s request and subject to the consent of the Department. The official dealing with the request will take into account all the relevant circumstances of the particular case and the tenant’s preference will be accommodated where possible.
It is open to the landlord to bring to the attention of the Department any instance where they suspect that a tenant is receiving rent supplement and is not paying their rent. Where the Department becomes aware that a person is not using rent supplement to meet the accommodation costs, payment of the supplement is suspended and the matter investigated. Where a landlord has a grievance in relation to the non-payment of rent by a tenant, s/he may apply to the Private Residential Tenancies Board to have the dispute resolved through the Board’s dispute resolution process.
The Department has no plans to implement a system whereby landlords would have to sign off each month showing that they have received rent from a rent supplement recipient. The efficiency of the scheme would be significantly affected if the Department had to create a formal relationship with all landlords, for what should be only a short term need.
The Government has approved in principle the transfer of responsibility for the provision of rental assistance to persons with a long term housing need from this Department to housing authorities using a new Housing Assistance Payment (HAP). Under the proposed arrangements for HAP, landlords will receive the rent for the property directly from the housing authority. The Department is working closely with officials from the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government in developing proposals to give effect to this transfer.
