Guest piece by Rob Walls, Threshold - New minimum standards for private rented accommodation

This is a guest piece by Rob Walls, from Threshold Ireland – a charity which aims to secure a right to housing, particularly for households experiencing the problems of poverty and exclusion. Rob’s guest contribution focuses on the new minimum standards for private rented accommodation. The purpose of the new standards is to assist those most disadvantaged in society.

From 1 February 2013, all private accommodation which is let or made available for let has to comply with new minimum standards contained in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008 as amended in relation to sanitary facilities, heating facilities and food preparation and storage.

These minimum standards, when enforced, should remove the traditional bedsit from the Irish rental market and improve the living standards of those at the lower end of that market, including the estimated c.5,000 tenants who live in bedsits.

The 2008 Regulations also provided for standards in relation to the structural condition, ventilation, lighting, fire safety, refuse facilities and electricity and gas requirements of a private rented property. These standards were introduced on 1 February 2009.

The ‘new’ standards referred to have been applicable to all property made available for let for the first time since 1 February 2009, but only now apply to properties which have been continually let since before that time. The reason for the lead-in period was to provide landlords with an opportunity to spread the costs of making the necessary improvements as it was recognised that the new standards in these areas required the most significant changes from the previous standards in force.

Article 6 of the 2008 Regulations provides that there should be provided within the house, for the exclusive use of the house, a toilet (which is capable of flushing) with a wash-hand basin and a fixed bath or shower, all of which in good working order. This means that private rented accommodation can no longer have shared bathroom facilities with another dwelling. Further, the bathroom(s) must be separated from adjacent rooms in the house and have sufficient ventilation.

Article 7 provides that the tenant must have full control over heating. Further, every habitable room in a house must contain both a permanently fixed appliance capable of providing effective heating and facilities for the safe removal of fumes. Portable heaters and open fires are no longer sufficient.

Article 8 provides that each property must have within its area, for the exclusive of the property and in good working order: a 4-ring hob with oven and grill, cooker hood or similar, fridge and freezer, microwave oven, sink, adequate storage for food, washing machine or access to communal washing facilities, dryer or a garden/yard for the exclusive use of that property. Local authority housing can still provide shared kitchen facilities.

Pursuant to the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992 (as amended) responsibility for the enforcement of the 2008 Regulations rests with the relevant local authority within which the property is located. There are various notices and fines which the local authority can issue in that regard.

Failure by a landlord to maintain a rented property at the minimum standards is a breach of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004. As a result of this breach, a tenant would be entitled to terminate his tenancy and/or refer the breach to the PRTB. Neither the standards nor the obligations in the 2004 Act can be contracted out of.

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