Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 September 2020
423. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his attention has been drawn to the fact that residents in Westport, County Mayo are facing an increase in rent as high as 18%; his views on whether there is need for rent pressure zones in Westport; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21780/20]
Amharc ar fhreagra429. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his attention has been drawn to the fact that residents in Westport, County Mayo are facing rent increases as high as 18%; his views on whether there is a need for rent pressure zones in Westport; the alternative other strategies he views as necessary to address rent increases such as these; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22079/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 423 and 429 together.
Section 24A of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, as amended, provides that the Housing Agency, in consultation with housing authorities, may make a proposal to the Minister that an area should be considered for designation as a Rent Pressure Zone. Following receipt of such a proposal, the Minister requests the Director of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) to conduct an assessment of the area to establish whether or not it meets the criteria for designation and to report to the Minister on whether the area should be designated as a Rent Pressure Zone. For the purpose of the Act, ‘area’ is defined as either the administrative area of a housing authority or a local electoral area within the meaning of section 2 of the Local Government Act 2001.
Previously, for an area to be designated a Rent Pressure Zone, it must have satisfied the criteria set out in section 24A(4) of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (as inserted by section 36 of the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016), as follows:
(i) the annual rate of rent inflation in the area must have been 7% or more in four of the last six quarters; and
(ii) the average rent for tenancies registered in the area with the RTB in the last quarter must be above the average national rent (i.e the National Standardised Rent in the RTB’s Rent Index Report) in the last quarter (€1,231 per month in Q1 2020).
However, on 30 May 2019, the previous Minister signed the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2019 (Commencement) Order 2019 which appointed 31 May 2019 and 4 June 2019 as the dates on which specified provisions of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2019 came into effect, including provisions in respect of the average rent qualifying criterion for RPZ designation. Specifically, in relation to criteria (ii) above, the rent of a dwelling in the Greater Dublin Area (Kildare, Wicklow and Meath) will now be compared to the average rent across the country, excluding Dublin rents; and the rent of a dwelling outside of the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) will be compared to the average rent across the country, excluding Greater Dublin Area rents.
Each quarterly RTB Rent Index Report includes a summary in Table 9 of the data used to establish whether each Local Electoral Area fulfils the criteria for designation as a Rent Pressure Zone. This ensures transparency in relation to the position of individual areas in terms of average rent levels and increases. The quarterly Rent Index Reports are available to view on the RTB's website at the following link: https://www.rtb.ie/images/uploads/Comms%20and%20Research/RTB_Rent_Index_2020_Q1_%28WEB%29_Final.pdf
Further information on Rent Pressure Zones and designations is available on my Department's website at https://www.housing.gov.ie/PUBLICATIONS, by searching 'rent pressure zones - information'.
While rental inflation in the Westport LEA has been above 7% in 1 of the last 6 quarters, the standardised average rent in Westport in Q1 2020 was €797.41, which is below the Non-GDA Standardised Average Rent of €870.00 per month, thereby not satisfying the criteria for designation as an RPZ at this time.
The Housing Agency and the RTB will continue to monitor national rents and if the Westport LEA meets the designation criteria it will be designated as a RPZ.
In relation to Rent reviews outside of Rent Pressure Zones, a landlord may only review the rent once in any two-year period. Section 19 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004-2019 requires that the rent set is not above the market rents for similar properties in that area. The landlord must provide three examples of rents for similar properties in a comparable area to demonstrate this. A tenant may make an application for dispute resolution to the Residential Tenancies Board where he/she feels his/her rent is in excess of the market rent.
Further information is available at https://rtb.ie/and through the RTB helpline - Lo-call on 0818 30 30 37 (mobile operators might charge a premium rate to the Lo-call number) or 01 702 8100 - available from Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 6.30pm.
