New Amendments to the Legislation Effective from 7th April 2016

Back to News

Renaming of the Private Residential Tenancies Board

The role of the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) has being expanded from 7th April 2016. Approved Housing Bodies will be brought under its remit, meaning that tenants and landlords of Approved Housing Bodies often referred to housing associations  will also be able to access the dispute resolution services of the Board. Consequently the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB)  is now called the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB).

Approved Housing Bodies

All Approved Housing Bodies tenants will have access to the dispute resolution services of the RTB, via mediation or adjudication, which were previously only available to private sector tenancies.

Approved Housing Bodies  (include Housing Associations and Co-operatives) provide and manage social rented housing. They are not for profit organisations formed for the purpose of relieving housing need.

Under Section 6 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1992, bodies must obtain ‘approved status’ from the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government. A body seeking to obtain, and to retain, approved status must have the following –

  • As a primary objective,  to relieve the housing need, or poverty or hardship or the welfare of Travellers, and the provision and management of housing,
  • In its memorandum of association or registered rules, provisions prohibiting the distribution of any surplus, profit, bonus or dividend to members and requiring that the assets of the body be applied solely towards its objects.

There are over  500 Approved Housing Bodies in Ireland with a stock size of over 30,000 units. Approved Housing Bodies provide housing in response to a range of different needs including families on low incomes, households with special needs, such as older persons, people with disabilities and homeless persons. They work in partnership with Local Authorities and take nominations from the Local Authority's social housing waiting list to fill available accommodation provided by the Approved Housing Bodies.

Requirement to Register

As and from 7th April 2016   Approved Housing Bodies will be required to register all their tenancies within 12 months of this date. Registrations can be done online at www.rtb.ie or alternatively by requesting a paper form from our customer call centre at 0818 30 30 37. The registrations will be at a reduced fee for this 12-month period only. Housing Associations will be charged €45 for each tenancy registration, for a period of 12 months only, beginning from today.  After the 12 month period normal fees (€90)  and penalties will apply for all registrations.

Dispute Resolution

If a tenant or landlord feel that their rights have been breached or the other party has not fulfilled their obligations they may lodge a dispute with the RTB. This can be done online at www.rtb.ie or by paper application requested by phone, 0818 30 30 37. The RTB has a useful good landlord / tenant guide that is available at the below links;

Good Landlord Guide

http://rtb.ie/landlords/rights-responsibilities-obligations/good-landlord-guide

Good Tenant Guide

http://rtb.ie/tenants/rights-responsibilities-obligations/good-tenant-guide

Differences in the Residential Tenancies Act for Approved Housing Bodies Tenancies

There are a number of small differences in the rights and obligations of AHB tenants and landlords.

The following differences apply for Approved Housing Bodies in comparison to private rented dwellings;

Approved Housing Bodies  tenants are not permitted to assign or sublet the tenancy 

Approved Housing Bodies carry out rent reviews in accordance with the tenancy agreement. Where there is no tenancy agreement, a rent review can be carried out once per year. The Approved Housing Bodies landlord is required to send a notice of rent review as soon as practicable.

A tenant gains “Part IV tenant rights” when they are in a tenancy for longer than 6 months. This in essence means that once a tenant remains in the tenancy for over 6 months they gain an automatic security to remain in that tenancy for a minimum of 4 years. The tenancy can only be terminated on certain grounds under Section 34 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 including;

a. The tenant has failed to comply with their obligations
b. The landlord intends to sell the dwelling within the next 3 months
c. The dwelling is no longer suited to the needs of the occupying household
d. The landlord requires the dwelling for own or fmaily member occupation.
e. substantial refurbishment of the dwelling
f. change the use of the dwelling

Tenants living in accommodation which has been categorised as ‘transitional’ and where the tenancy is for no longer that 18 months will not gain the benefit of Part 4 rights therefore Section 34 grounds do not apply. The landlords right to terminate a Part IV tenancy for the reason that he or she requires the dwelling for own or family member occupation is not applicable to transitional dwellings.

     4. Article 8 of the minimum standards does not apply to Approved Housing Bodies.  The minimum standards regarding food preparation, storage and laundry purposes do not apply to Approved Housing Bodies. Therefore Approved Housing Bodies do not have to provide white goods such as washing machines etc.  All of the other regulations apply to Approved Housing Bodies.

Dispute Process

Approved Housing Bodies Landlord and Tenants will be entitled to avail of the Dispute Resolution Service. The RTB operate a two stage dispute resolution process. The first stage consists of either mediation, if chosen by both parties, or adjudication. The PRTB are now offering a new free Mediation service and have recently introduced Telephone Mediation where a Mediator works separately with each party to reach a mutually acceptable resolution over a usually short period of time.  Parties can reach an agreement in the convenience of their own home. This confidential service has had a 93% success rate and because parties have come to their own agreement they tend to comply with the agreement.

The fee for Adjudication is €15 for online applications and €25 for paper applications.  Adjudication is where the parties submit their application and evidence to back up their claim. They will then attend the adjudication and present their case and evidence. Evidence can include Lease agreements, photographs, inventories carried out, invoices or receipts for damages to the property etc. An independent Adjudicator will make a decision based on the law, the facts and evidential basis of the claim.

Either party has a right to appeal their case to tribunal hearing. Approximately 12% of adjudication applications and 8% of mediation applications are appealed.  A Tribunal is a three person hearing on the matter similar to the adjudication. New measures have been introduced to shorten the timeline of the tribunal stage if either party requests on grounds of financial or other hardship.