Four years before inspection rate of 25% of rented homes in place

A planned 25 per cent annual inspection rate of private rental accommodation by local authorities will not be in place for four years, it has emerged.

Minister for Housing Simon Coveney has said "specific ring-fenced funding'' will be provided from next year to achieve the 2021 target.

“There is an acceptance there is a problem that needs to be resolved,’’ he added.

“Different local authorities have very different levels of performance in terms of enforcing standards and inspections.’’

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The matter was raised in the Dáil by Independent TD Mick Wallace who said the county council in his Wexford constituency had said inspections were reactive because it did not have the resources to be proactive.

Mr Wallace said he was echoing the views of many TDs who frequently hear complaints at their constituency clinics about the poor standard of rental accommodation.

A 2014 survey by the National Oversight and Audit Commission (NOAC) revealed a low level of inspection in some local authorities.

It was found to be less than two per cent in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Galway city and county, Limerick, Louth, Meath and Offaly.

Only four local authorities – Roscommon, Monaghan, South Dublin and Cavan – had an inspection rate of 20 per cent or more.

That year, 8,336, or about 55 per cent, of inspected dwellings did not meet required standards, and 1,403 improvement notices were issued.

Non-compliance was mainly due to a failure to meet fire safety and ventilation standards, the survey found.

New regulations

Mr Coveney said in the Dáil he had signed new regulations covering minimum standards which would come into operation generally next July.

“All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure their rented properties comply with the regulations,’’ he added.

Mr Wallace said he was glad changes were planned, but he could not understand why their implementation was being postponed until next year.

He said that in 2013, Wexford County Council had inspected 1,075 rented properties, but in 2015 the figure was reduced to 240 and it had fallen further to 201 last year.

The council did not have the staff, he added.

“There is a problem in regard to exactly who is going to inspect the properties, whether they are qualified or trained, and what they are trained in,’’ Mr Wallace added.

He said the quality of a person’s house had a lot to do with the quality of their life.

“The Government wants to promote the private rental sector, which is fine, but it does very little about quality,’’ he added.

Mr Coveney said the level of inspections could not simply be ramped up overnight, given that in some local authorities neither the systems nor staff were in place.

“We are trying to put a realistic timeframe in place whereby we can put systems, people and management in place to make sure we get gradually improving figures, year-on-year, in order that, by 2021, each local authority will be meeting the target of inspecting one quarter of the rental properties in its area in a year,’’ the Minister added.