Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 September 2022
579. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on expanding the capacity for telephone support at the Residential Tenancies Board; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43019/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra580. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his attention has been drawn to some landlords being unable to register their tenancies and that they cannot contact the Residential Tenancies Board to resolve the issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43020/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra625. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department has carried out any assessment to determine or estimate the number of properties in the State that are currently on the rental market but are not registered with the Residential Tenancies Board; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43342/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra626. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the actions that his Department is taking to ensure that landlords register their properties with the Residential Tenancies Board; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43343/22]
Amharc ar fhreagra689. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the RTB Board property registration process will be improved. [44314/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 579, 580, 625, 626 and 689 together.
The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was established as an independent statutory body under the Residential Tenancies Acts 2004-2022 (RTA) 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.
Following the passing of legislation in 2019, with effect from 4 April 2022, landlords are required to register their tenancies with the RTB every year, within one month of the anniversary of when the tenancy began. This applies to both new and existing tenancies.
I am aware that some landlord and agent customers are encountering issues with the new RTB tenancy registration system but 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 and action is underway to reduce these waiting times, with the recruitment of a large number of additional staff in its customer service centre and the implementation of some technical changes to the online registration system. The RTB has advised my Department that their 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 recent months to support landlords, AHBs and property professionals understand the requirements to register annually.
Given the genuine difficulties among its user community, for a period of time the RTB will be refunding all late fees paid to the RTB for new tenancy registrations with a tenancy commencement date on or after the 4 April 2022, and annual registrations of existing tenancies which became due on or after 4 April 2022. The RTB is hard at work to operationalise this new process over the coming weeks and will provide its customers with an update once the detail is finalised via its regular website customer service announcements. This will not apply to any late fees which have accumulated prior to the introduction of annual registration on 4 April 2022 and does not apply to providers of Student Specific Accommodation.
With regard to an estimate of the number of properties in the State that are currently on the rental market but are not registered with the RTB, my Department does not collect the data sought. However, the RTB has a dedicated email address for oireachtas members’ queries and may be contacted at OireachtasMembersQueries@rtb.ie to establish the extent to which it may hold the information sought.
