Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 May 2014
31. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will commission a review of the Private Residential Tenancies Board to consider how best it can be restructured as the delay in hearing cases and issuing determinations is causing severe problems for tenants and landlords, undermining the whole notion of regulation of the area. [19456/14]
View answerThe Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) was established under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 to operate a national tenancy registration system and to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants in the private rented residential sector.
My Department conducted a review of the Act in 2009 which included a specific focus on whether the Act best supports the PRTB’s key functions and on whether legislative amendments would support the achievement of additional operational efficiencies by the PRTB in the delivery of those functions. My Department engaged in extensive public consultations during the review and received a wide range of submissions. In April 2010, the Government approved the preparation of the Heads of a Bill to deliver on the review’s recommendations.
The Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012 was published on 19 July 2012. The Bill builds on what has been achieved by the Residential Tenancies Act and the PRTB and provides for the further development of the rental sector into the future. This Bill has passed all stages in the Dáil, and is currently before the Seanad. It is intended that it will be enacted by the end of the Summer Oireachtas session 2014.
Among the main issues addressed by the amending legislation are:
- the inclusion of the Approved Housing Body (AHB) sector within the remit of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004;
- the delivery of the programme for Government commitment to establish a deposit protection scheme;
- the introduction of a new fast-track procedure to deal with non-payment of rent;
- the simplification and streamlining of the mediation process;
- the separation of the governance and quasi-judicial functions of the PRTB Board and the reduction of the maximum number of Board members from 15 to 12;
- the transfer of the functions of the Rent Tribunal to the PRTB on foot of the Government decision on the rationalisation of State agencies.
I am confident that these legislative changes will allow the Board to continue to discharge its statutory obligations in an independent, fair and efficient manner.
