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Residential Tenancies Board

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 July 2020

Thursday, 23 July 2020

Questions (52)

Pa Daly

Question:

52. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the reason the estimated spend on the Residential Tenancies Board has decreased from €12.4 million to €9.9 million in the Revised Estimates. [17499/20]

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Written answers

The figures the Deputy is referring to relate to 2019 and 2020 Exchequer funding for the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB). The figure of €12.4 million relates to 2019 Exchequer funding and included a provision of €4.5 million for Rented Accommodation Inspection. This funding was a subvention from my Department for local authorities to aid their inspections of private rental accommodation and the enforcement of the minimum standards Regulations.

From 2004 to 2016, by way of Ministerial Order, a portion of the fee income collected by the RTB for the registration of tenancies was set aside to be allocated to local authorities for the purpose of the performance of their functions under the Housing Acts in relation to private rented accommodation standards inspections. Since 1 July 2016, the RTB has retained 100% of its fee income to defray its costs.

Since 2018, my Department has used the RTB subhead to provide direct Exchequer funding to local authorities to assist them with their work as it relates to inspections of rental accommodation, with the RTB having no role in either the inspections or the funding.

In 2019, my Department sought permission from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to have the Rental Accommodation Inspection aspect of the RTB subhead removed and renamed, without affecting the funding provided to the organisation, and to be set up as a separate subhead reflecting the fact that the RTB no longer has a role in the subvention of these local authority inspections.

Permission was granted and the change took effect in the 2020 Estimates with the creation of the A.25.1 Rental Accommodation Inspection subhead. So while the RTB funding appears to have decreased year on year, it is only because the inspections were included in 2019 and excluded in 2020. The Exchequer funding for operational costs incurred by the RTB has in fact increased by €2m in 2020.

The provision for rental accommodation inspections has also increased, from €4.5 million in 2019 to €6m this year.

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