Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 July 2022
841. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of inspections to examine the standards of rental accommodation undertaken by Kildare County Council in 2021; the number of improvement notices issued as a result; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41873/22]
View answerThe Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 specify requirements in relation to a range of matters, such as structural repair, sanitary facilities, heating, ventilation, natural light, fire safety and the safety of gas, oil and electrical installations. With very limited exemptions, these apply to all private rented accommodation. All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with these Regulations. Responsibility for the enforcement of the Regulations rests with the relevant local authority.
If an inspection identifies that a property has been found to be non-compliant with the regulations, it is a matter for the local authority to determine what action is necessary and appropriate, including the issuing of an Improvement Letter, Improvement Notice, Prohibition Notice or further legal recourse.
To aid increased inspections of properties and ensure greater compliance with the Regulations, increased Exchequer funding has been made available to local authorities each year since 2018 to enable them to build inspection capacity incrementally, with payments based on the number of inspections undertaken. Significant progress was made across the sector. The number of inspections more than doubled from 19,645 in 2017 to 40,728 in 2019.
However, given the need for inspectors to enter tenants’ homes, pandemic restrictions greatly impacted on inspection activity with the number of inspections undertaken falling to circa 25,700 in 2020 and 20,300 in 2021.
In response to the restrictions some local authorities, including Kildare County Council, piloted virtual inspections. While virtual inspection systems present certain challenges and limitations, they offered a way of improving the standard of rental accommodation despite the pandemic. A total of €9 million in Exchequer funding is being made available to help local authorities reach inspection targets this year. Q1 2022 has seen inspections rise considerably with circa 10,000 conducted.
The number of private rental inspections undertaken by Kildare County Council in 2021 is set out in the table below:
|
Year |
Physical on-site Rental Inspections Carried Out |
Virtual Rental Inspections Carried Out |
Total Rental Inspections Carried Out |
Improvement Letters Issued |
Improvement Notices Served |
Prohibition Notices Served |
|
2021 |
273 |
68 |
341 |
218 |
22 |
4 |
It should be noted that in terms of enforcement local authorities will typically try to work in partnership with landlords to ensure that any non-compliance issues are resolved. This is done outside of the more formal Improvement Letter/Notice system.
Annual data in respect of the level of inspections carried out by each local authority is available on my Department's website at:
www.gov.ie/en/publication/da3fe-private-housing-market-statistics/
