Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 July 2018
2703. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the number of housing assistance payment, HAP, supported private rented properties that have been inspected within the required eight months of the commencement of the tenancy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33834/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraPart 4 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014, provides the statutory basis for the HAP scheme. Section 41 of that Act provides that:
- a housing authority must be satisfied on inspection that a dwelling supported under HAP complies with the statutory standards for rented accommodation prescribed under section 18 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992;
- a housing authority shall have inspected and been satisfied that the property meets rental accommodation standards within 12 months prior to a HAP application or shall have arranged to inspect the property within 8 months of HAP commencing;
- HAP may be provided on a property, which is the subject of a subsisting improvement notice, under section 18A of the Act of 1992;
- HAP shall not be, or shall cease to be, provided on a property which is the subject of proceedings or a prohibition notice under section 18B of the Act of 1992. Where a prohibition notice has come into effect, HAP may continue to be paid for 13 weeks, for the purpose of enabling the qualified household to find an alternative dwelling.
Full national roll-out of HAP was completed in March 2017, with the commencement of the scheme on a statutory basis in Dublin City and in the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown and Fingal County Council areas. The HAP Shared Services Centre (SSC) operated by Limerick City and County Council has provided local authorities with an inspection module as part of a central information management system in order to record inspection data related to HAP supported tenancies.
While inspections are being undertaken widely by local authorities, not every local authority is recording data in respect of every HAP tenancy on the HAP system. Some local authorities have signalled that their inspections of HAP-related properties form part of wider programmes of inspection of private rented accommodation, which were established before HAP commenced and are recorded separately.
The Department is working with the SSC, the Housing Agency and HAP practitioners to identify a streamlined process, which would minimise duplication of effort for local authorities across their inspection programmes, centralising all HAP related data, and ultimately, facilitating more robust and reliable analysis and reporting of inspection related data.
It is expected that by end 2018, sufficient progress will have been made to integrate the recording systems and provide the inspection status of all active HAP tenancies on an ongoing basis. It is worth noting that separately, the HAP SSC records scheme exit data based on HAP payment cessations as submitted by local authorities. Reasons for cessations are typically self-reported by the tenant and/or landlord. At the end of Quarter 2 2018, there had been 7,478 exits from HAP since the scheme commenced in 2014, with just 266 of these exits citing property standards as the reason for the exit.
In parallel to this HAP specific activity, a working group was established in 2017 to develop proposals to give effect to Actions 21 and 22 of the Rental Strategy to plan for the development of a shared services type model for inspection and enforcement of the rental accommodation standards regulations within the local government sector. The intention is that this reform will deliver a more consistent approach to the inspection and enforcement process, benefitting landlords and tenants alike, and allow for more efficient and effective use of available resources. Specialist sub groups are also currently being established, including to develop and roll out a new standardised IT system which will allow real time reporting of inspections and compliance at local and national levels. Consideration will be given to integrating the HAP inspection compliance module with this wider development of private rental standards inspections.
