Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 28 September 2022
140. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if additional resources will be provided to the Residential Tenancies Board to address the chaos in registrations and lack of a functioning phone service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47367/22]
View answer145. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the additional resourcing he has committed to the Residential Tenancies Board to date in 2022. [47398/22]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 140 and 145 together.
The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was established as an independent statutory body under the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2022 (RTA) to operate a national tenancy registration system and to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants and as such, the implementation of the new tenancy management system is an operational matter for the RTB.
Following the passing of legislation in 2019, with effect from 4 April 2022, landlords are required to register their tenancies with the RTB every year, within one month of the anniversary of when the tenancy began. This applies to both new and existing tenancies.
Although many landlords and agents have successfully registered their tenancies on the system, I have been made aware that some landlord and agent customers are encountering issues with the new RTB tenancy registration system. The RTB has assured my Department that it is working collaboratively and constructively with the sector to assist anyone experiencing difficulties.
The RTB has recently almost doubled the staffing in its outsourced call centre to deal with these issues and has been working hard to find the right balance between ensuring contracted staff are adequately trained and capable of assisting customers with their queries, ranging from linking tenancies, verifying accounts, and data-inputting paper applications.
Following recommendations in the RTB Workforce Plan (2018 – 2021) and engagement with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER), the RTB received sanction for significant additional staff over the past three years and my Department will continue to work with the RTB to ensure it is sufficiently resourced to deliver on its expanded mandate, including any specific requests with regard to annual registration. To this end, additional funding of €2m will be provide to the RTB for 2023, bringing its total allocation to €13.03m.
