RTB criticised as number of enforcement orders declines
Rental Sector Of Has Charity Chief 'virtually Housing Said Private Carroll, Executive The David Depaul, Collapsed'
There has been a sharp decline in the number of enforcement actions taken against landlords by the rental sector watchdog despite tens of thousands of referrals for failing to register tenancies.
As homelessness reaches another record high and advocates warn of the complete collapse of the rental sector, new figures from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) reveal a fall-off in legal actions taken against landlords who have failed to register tenancies, with just 10 court summons over a two-year period.
This is despite the fact 46,896 inquiries were made to the RTB about the non-registration of tenancies by landlords.
Landlords are required by law to register tenancies within a month of a renter moving in.
There have been just 25 convictions for failing to register a tenancy since 2016, with zero convictions in the latest two-year period covered by official data.
Census figures have also suggested that many landlords are not registering tenancies, with discrepancies in the number of households declared as renting from a private landlord against the number of private landlords registered with the RTB.
The RTB has said the latest data for enforcement, for 2020 and 2021, was impacted by the covid-19 pandemic, which reduced the operation of courts service.
The board said its main objective is to “support compliance” and that legal action is often not necessary.
However, in 2016, 2018, and 2019, there were more than 8,000 enforcement actions taken by the RTB annually.
But by 2020, this figure dropped to 1,778 enforcement actions, and in 2021, there were 3,991.
In particular, the RTB did not issue any legal letters to landlords in 2021, compared to 2020 when there were a total of 240 letters issued.
This compares to over 728 legal letters issued in 2019 and a high of 1,001 legal letters sent out in 2018.
Sinn Féin spokesman on housing Eoin Ó Broin says the data indicates high levels of non-compliance by landlords.
He “did not accept” the RTB’s justification that covid-19 prevented cases from being built against landlords who were not obeying regulations.
“It’s my view that the RTB needs to significantly increase its level of enforcement to ensure a level of compliance,” said Mr Ó Broin.
Housing charities, meanwhile, have rounded on the Government over the new record homelessness figures.
The number of people homeless in Ireland has risen yet again, with 12,600 people now in emergency accommodation.
This includes 1,804 families, the highest number ever, having last peaked five years ago.
David Carroll, the chief executive of housing charity Depaul, said the private rental sector has “virtually collapsed” and investment in housing must be ramped up if there is to be any significant reduction in the numbers entering temporary emergency accommodation.
Focus Ireland said the latest rise is due to the loss of “all progress made during the pandemic” and, in part, due to the Government's decision to end the eviction ban in March “without an effective plan for dealing with the consequences”.