Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 June 2022
259. Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the engagement, if any, that he has had with the Residential Tenancies Board in relation to its availability to both tenants and the landlord; if it has been flagged with him that there is difficulty in contacting the RTB directly by phone or by email; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33885/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra260. Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will assist a person (details supplied) in contacting the Residential Tenancies Board to register a property in order that a family can continue to reside there; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33886/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 259 and 260 together.
The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was established as an independent statutory body under the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2021 to operate a national tenancy registration system and to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants and as such, the implementation of the new tenancy management system is an operational matter for the RTB.
Due to the quasi-judicial nature of the RTB, it would be inappropriate for me, as Minister, or my Department to provide legal advice, comment on, or to intervene in the specifics of any individual case.
I am aware that some landlord and agent customers are encountering issues with the new RTB tenancy management system, but it is important that landlords and agents complete the process for account verification on the new system. This is a one-off procedure and the RTB has assured my Department that it is working collaboratively and constructively with the sector to assist anyone experiencing difficulties.
The RTB is experiencing significantly high volumes of calls, web-chat and action is underway to reduce these waiting times, with the recruitment of significant additional staff in its customer service centre, and the implementation of some technical changes to the online registration system which will ease some of the issues for landlords and letting agents.
The RTB customer service teams are spending considerable time with landlords supporting their transition over to the new system and have been engaging directly with landlord stakeholder groups, over the more recent months, to support landlords, AHBs and property professionals understand the requirements to register annually. Over the past two years, the RTB has been engaging across various stakeholders listed and indeed others, about the change to annual registration and has established a short-term working group with IPAV which has met on a fortnightly basis since the start of April.
The RTB has created online support materials such as videos and FAQs for landlord customers to support them to understand the online registration system and annual registration requirements, which can be found on its website at: www.rtb.ie/annual-registration.
Full details of the RTB’s complaints procedure is outlined in their Customer Charter and is available to download from their website at:
www.rtb.ie/rtb-freedom-of-information-publication-scheme/customer-charter
Should further information be required by the Deputy, the RTB set up a dedicated email address for this purpose and may be contacted at OireachtasMembersQueries@rtb.ie.
