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.
I am aware that some landlords and agents are encountering issues with the new RTB tenancy management system. I met with the RTB in July and again last week to discuss the issues involved. My officials are also keeping in regular contact with the Board on the matter. In addition, this week I secured additional resources to assist the Board in their operations, including in relation to providing customer service, with an increase in the RTB allocation from €11m this year to €13m in 2023.
Given the genuine difficulties among its user community, the RTB will be refunding all late fees paid to it for new tenancy registrations with a tenancy commencement date on or after the 4 April 2022, and annual registrations of existing tenancies which became due on or after 4 April 2022. The RTB has commenced work to operationalise this new process over the coming weeks and will provide its customers with an update once the detail is finalised, via its regular website customer service announcements. This will not apply to any late fees which have accumulated prior to the introduction of annual registration on 4 April 2022.
Changes have been made to processes within RTB customer service provision to help alleviate delays and backlog and the RTB has almost doubled the staffing in its outsourced call centre. As I said my Department continues to engage with the RTB on a regular basis to ensure it is fully resourced to deliver on its ever increasing mandate.
