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Nine out of ten homes in RPZs fail to meet minimum standards 

You may have read the article published in The Sunday Business Post last weekend reporting that nine out of ten homes in Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) fail to meet minimum standards. These figures, supplied by local authorities, show that of the 16,441 private rental properties inspected in 2018, 14,860 or 90.3% failed to meet minimum standards. 

Properties across Limerick, Galway and Louth were found to have the worst standards. In fact, within these areas, none of the private rentals inspected passed the minimum housing standards, which is alarming. Wicklow recorded the highest level of compliance, with 44% of properties failing to meet minimum standards. As expected, Dublin City Council inspected the most homes, of which more than 95% failed to meet the standards. 

This article illustrates the scale of problems within the rental sector and the challenges faced by landlords in meeting basic, minimum standards. By way of quick reminder, landlords must ensure the property is free from damp and is in good structural repair. Cold and hot water must be provided. The home must contain adequate heating and ventilation. Also, all appliances, electrics, gas and water pipes  must be in good working order.

More recent rules provide for the provision of food storage and cooking preparation areas. Also, if there is no garden or a yard, there must be communal laundry and refuse storage facilities. 

Landlords are well advised to prioritise health and safety issues, specifically: a fire blanket must be available and fire detection/alarm systems in place, carbon monoxide alarms must be tested regularly and infestations must be prevented. It might be worth taking some time this week to review the full list of rules on the RTB website (click here.).

If any home is found to be non-compliant, enforcement action can be taken by the local authority. Bluntly, in the event of a fire, or appliance explosion, or carbon monoxide poisoning, landlords who have failed to maintain regular servicing and alarm testing are facing heavy fines and/or imprisonment. It must be noted that tenants have a responsibility to notify the landlord  of any issues in the property or defects that need repairing.  According to the article above, an additional €4.5 million has been made available this year to fund more “random” investigations. 

As regular readers here will know, the RTB has recently been granted wider investigative and enforcement powers to identify and tackle any breaches of the Residential Tenancies Act. Also, new RPZs came into effect earlier this month with a further 19 areas designated across 11 counties. The RTB commissioned the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and Coyne Research to examine the impact of RPZs on rental trends and how it is affecting landlords and tenants. According to the research, over half of the landlords interviewed (55%) believe that the RPZ restrictions are unfair. As always, we would be interested to hear your views on this. 

Ian Lawlor
086 3625482

Director / Business Development
Lotus Investment Group