Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 11 May 2011
92 Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of social welfare rent supplement cheques being paid to landlords who are not registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board as per legislation. [10791/11]
Amharc ar fhreagra93 Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will ensure that rent supplement cheques are not paid to landlords who are not registered with the Private Residential Tenancies Board. [10792/11]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 92 and 93 together.
Under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, landlords are legally obliged to register tenancies with the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB), however, not all tenancies are required to be registered with the PRTB as the relevant legislation, the Residential Tenancies Act, provides for certain exceptions.
Where registration is required, the landlord has up to one month after the commencement of the tenancy to register it with the PRTB at the standard fee and longer to register at a higher fee. It is not, therefore, practical for the Department to insist that a tenancy be registered before rent supplement can be paid to the tenant as the establishment of the tenancy will be dependent on rent supplement being awarded. As such the information requested by the Deputy is not available.
The Department works closely with the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) to help ensure that rent supplement tenancies comply with the statutory system of tenancy regulation and safeguards.
The Department advises the PRTB of all new rent supplemented tenancies to assist them in implementing tenancy regulations and co-operates in any initiatives taken by the PRTB to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Residential Tenancies Act. It is accepted that there is a need to ensure that all landlords, including those renting out property to people in receipt of rent supplement, comply with the terms of the Residential Tenancies Act. The PRTB has been given powers to deal with unregistered landlords and the information provided by the Department to the Board should help them to exercise these powers, while not placing rent supplement recipients in an unworkable and vulnerable position.
94 Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Social Protection the reason a person (details supplied) that had previously been habitually resident here and moved to live and work in another country for ten years, resumed their permanent residence here, is now experiencing extreme difficulty in demonstrating that they satisfy the requirements of the habitual residence condition. [10794/11]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn application for jobseeker's allowance, by the person concerned was refused by a deciding officer of the Department on the grounds that she did not satisfy the habitual residence conditions. Similarly, her application for supplementary welfare allowance was also refused by a Community Welfare Officer of the HSE.
The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that appeals by the person concerned against both decisions have been registered in that office on 9 February 2011 and 24 March 2011 respectively and have been referred to an Appeals Officer who, in due course, will decide whether the case can be decided on a summary basis or whether to list it for oral hearing.
The annual intake of appeals has increased from 14,070 in 2007 to 32,432 in 2010, an increase of 18,362 (130.5%) and currently it appears that another 30,000 will be received during 2011. This has impacted on the processing time for appeals which, in 2010, was 27.4 weeks for cases dealt with by way of summary decisions and 45.6 weeks for those who were given an oral hearing. In order to be fair to all appellants, appeals are dealt with in strict chronological order.
In an effort to reduce these processing times, the Department has made 9 additional appointments to the office in recent weeks. These assignments will augment the 3 appointments made to the Office in 2010, bringing the total number of Appeals Officers serving in the office to 29.
The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions on social welfare entitlements.
