I thank members for inviting Threshold to appear before it and give its input on standards in private rented accommodation. I am accompanied by our chief executive officer, CEO, Mr. John-Mark McCafferty, and our legal officer, Mr. Gavin Elliott. Threshold was founded in 1978. We are a national housing charity whose aim is to secure a right to housing, particularly for households experiencing poverty and social exclusion.
Threshold's input to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government's discussion on this issue comprises the following: an examination of poor standards in the sector drawing on case studies from clients accessing our services; consideration of enforcement and inspections; Threshold's policy on an NCT for housing, how it would work, the benefits to the State and the pitfalls of self-certification, defining and dealing with overcrowding and dealing with openness and transparency.
In our opinion, the Government can no longer shy away from its commitment to provide quality housing and adequate standards for those in housing need and to ensure minimum standards are strictly adhered to in the private rented market. Inadequate physical standards consistently rank as one of the top complaints raised by clients with Threshold. I will provide a number of examples - as we all know, we have had a very difficult winter - of not untypical cases presented to Threshold on a daily basis. Such cases include that of an expectant mother living with two young children in accommodation that is heated inadequately through two small electric heaters, a couple and their two children who all sleep in the living room of their home, which is heated through an open fire as long-term problems with the central heating have resulted in cold, damp and mouldy bedrooms and a couple and their premature baby living in a cold and draughty property where the heating and shower are broken and some of the windows do not close properly. These are just examples of the wide-ranging cases that come to our organisation in respect of minimum standards and their breach.
A significant number of rented properties are substandard and the current system of local authority inspections is failing to enforce the minimum standards required by law. In the year to date, Threshold has dealt with 585 standards and repairs queries and in 2017, our housing advisers dealt with 1,261 queries relating to standards. We live in an era in which employees are afforded protection in the workplace by health and safety regulations, diners in a restaurant can expect that the kitchen of the premises is regularly inspected to ensure health and safety standards, road users are obliged to adhere to preventative road safety measures that ensure vehicles on Irish roads are in sound working order and a consumer can insist that a good is "fit for the purpose". Someone looking for a home to rent is a consumer but a potential tenant's familiarity with building standards is limited. Tenants do not carry a damp meter with them when they go to view a property. Many tenants are afraid to reject or walk away from a letting, particularly when supply is so scarce and rent levels are astronomically high. Few consumer goods more strongly merit protection than a home. This includes freedom from damp and condensation, proper heating facilities, adequate ventilation and hot and cold running water.
Unfortunately, enforcement and inspection of standards in the private rented sector are recurring concerns for Threshold. In 2016, the number of dwellings that did not meet regulatory requirements stood at 10,418, which is an increase of 1,978 based on the 2015 figure of 8,440. More dwellings were inspected in 2008 than were inspected in 2016. In 2016, legal action was taken in only 16 cases nationwide. Fourteen of these were concentrated in Dublin. Within Dublin, South Dublin County Council inspected 1,355 dwellings and Dublin City Council inspected 1,751. However, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council only managed to inspect 271 dwellings. In 14 local authorities where dwellings did not comply with standards, zero notices were served on landlords for improvements to be carried. In our opinion, this represents a failure in the system.
Threshold believes the introduction of a certification scheme or an NCT for housing is the best approach to address the shortcomings of the current system. In such a scheme, the burden of proof for compliance with minimum standards should rest with the landlord who should be required to provide a certificate of fitness to the local authority before a property is rented. The integration of such a scheme with certification requirements relating to energy efficiency, fire safety, tax obligations and registration with the RTB would promote greater compliance in general. Given the importance of this issue and the historic failure of the policy-making system to respond to this, Threshold recently established an online petition to seek public support for an NCT-type certification system in rented accommodation. As of late June, the number of signatures is 10,229.
How would a certification system work? The property would be inspected by an independent and suitably qualified professional, the certificate be displayed in the rented dwelling, a certificate would be valid for a fixed period, the landlord would be required to supply the RTB with the details of certification, the certification scheme could be rolled out on a phased basis and an indicative fee structure could be established that would be affordable for landlords and would be tax deductible.
What would be the benefits to the State? The onus would be placed on landlords to prove that they are compliant with the minimum standards. A prospective tenant would be assured from the beginning that the dwelling complies with all legal requirements. In our opinion, overall compliance levels would rise.
We do not believe that self-certification is the answer to the current problem of poor standards in the sector. It relies on landlords being caught and we are all aware this is no deterrent in the current system. There needs to be sufficient sanction for failure to comply with minimum standards and self-certification is not going to achieve this. Threshold believes that if car owners cannot self-certify a motor vehicle then rented homes should be no different.
Overcrowding in the private rented sector is a serious issue that is increasingly coming to light through our services. As a result, we believe it is imperative that a definition of overcrowding for private rented accommodation is inserted into existing minimum standards for accommodation to enable local authorities or a national agency to inspect properties and ensure compliance.
While there are minimum standards covering some aspects of private rented accommodation, the regulations are silent on how many people should occupy the accommodation provided. Previously a landlord had to state the number of occupants and record the estimated floor space but this obligation was removed by section 62 of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2015, and their inclusion would be useful in terms of measuring overcrowding in order to inform policy.
Finally, I would like to raise the issue of openness and transparency. At the moment there is no openness and transparency in relation to the properties that are inspected. In our opinion it should be clear and evident from the statistics that the properties that are inspected are those that are most deserving of being inspected in particular, properties that re pre-1963; properties that are more likely to be in breach of minimum standards; and properties where a local authority would be aware of potential shortcomings, as in for the sake of argument, unfortunate situations such as Priory Hall.
I thank the committee for its indulgence and for its invitation to appear here today.
