Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 October 2020
336. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if it is possible within current legislation to resolve issues in which local electoral areas are partially within rent pressure zones, and partially without, due to redraws of boundaries. [28286/20]
View answerSection 24A(6) of the Residential Tenancies Acts provides that ‘Where a local electoral area is prescribed by order as an RPZ and, subsequently, any local electoral areas are duly amended in a manner that affects the area of the local electoral area so prescribed, then the order shall continue to have effect as if the local electoral area concerned had not been so amended.’
Therefore, under Section 24A(6), areas already designated as RPZs will remain designated and areas that are not designated will retain their current undesignated status and as such will not become a RPZ by virtue of the change to the boundary.
The criteria to be satisfied by an area under section 24A(4) of the Residential Tenancies Act for designation as an RPZ are as follows:
a) the information relating to the area, as determined by reference to the information used to compile each RTB Rent Index quarterly report, shows that the annual rate of increase in the average amount of rent for that area is more than 7% in each of at least 4 of the 6 quarters preceding the period immediately prior to the date of the Housing Agency's proposal, and
b) the average rent for the area in the last quarter, as determined by reference to the information used to compile each RTB Rent Index quarterly report, is –
* in the case of counties Kildare, Meath and Wicklow or an LEA in any one of those counties, above the average rent in the State, excluding rents in the 4 Dublin Local Authority areas, or
* in the case of any LEA outside of the Greater Dublin Area (i.e. Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow), above the average rent in the State, excluding rents in the Greater Dublin Area.
Each RTB quarterly Rent Index Report includes a summary in Table 9 of the data used to establish whether each Local Electoral Area fulfils the criteria for designation as a Rent Pressure Zone. This ensures transparency in relation to the position of individual areas in terms of average rent levels and increases.
Should any LEA which has previously been designated a RPZ but which has areas contained within that LEA that are not designated due to recent boundary changes, meet the criteria above, the mechanism to address this issue will be triggered and the LEA can be recommended for designation in its entirety.
Further information on Rent Pressure Zones and designations is available on my Department's website at https://www.housing.gov.ie/PUBLICATIONS, by searching 'rent pressure zones - information'.
Under the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2019 the expiry date of all deemed and designated RPZs is extended to 31 December 2021.
The Housing Agency continues to monitor the rental market and may recommend further areas for designation as Rent Pressure Zones in accordance with the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2019.
