The more accurate information is at RTB tenancy registration, the more efficient the process is in the wider context of seeking to maintain the standard and safety of accommodation generally across the private rented sector.
The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) was set up under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 to deal with the regulation of private rented sector housing.
Registering a new tenancy with the RTB as required under the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2019 is not the last link in the chain for a landlord with a new tenancy. The RTB uses this information to maintain a publicly available property register as well as for a variety of intergovernmental requirements. All landlords are responsible for registration and are expected to update the register when information about a tenancy changes.
At present, new tenancies must be registered with the RTB within a month of the start of the tenancy. Each new tenancy is allocated a Registered Tenancy (RT) number. When a tenancy has been in existence for 4 years or more, a new tenancy begins and the landlord must re-register this new tenancy with the RTB. The basic rate for registering a private rented or Approved Housing Body (AHB) tenancy is €90 per tenancy. A late fee of €180 per tenancy applies if a registration is received more than a month after the tenancy commenced.
The introduction of annual registration is being floated as important to assist the RTB in monitoring and regulating the rental sector. Under the Act 2019, landlords will be required to register a tenancy annually, rather than simply registering a new tenancy when it commences or 4-years later. The Act creates a new fee structure, €170 for bulk registration, €40 for private rented tenancies, and €20 for AHB tenancies. Yet to be enacted, the RTB intend to roll-out a new tenancy management system (RTB360) to underpin the administration of the annual registration scheme.
Information provided in a tenancy registration is used by the RTB to facilitate a variety of requirements under relevant legislation and where necessary the information provided at the point of registration can be shared between agencies such as the Revenue Commissioners, Department of Social Welfare, local authorities, and officers of the local authorities such as Inspex.
Most landlords already know the current minimum standards for all private rented accommodation are set out in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. Our local authorities are responsible for checking and enforcing these minimum standards. Officers of the Housing Authority, such as Inspex, are authorised under section 18(2) of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992 to access rented properties for the purpose of rented house inspections.
Where contracts and data agreements exist, Local Authorities issue Inspex with a schedule of rented properties for inspection as registered with the RTB together with landlord and tenancy details as registered for the purpose of processing inspections of rented properties in accordance with Housing Standards.
With there being two types of business relationships – let-only/managed - between landlords and property agents, landlords should know registering precise information about a tenancy on the RTB portal is important. The information registered is the foundation that ensures to avoid confusion and time wasted further down the line. Information should be accurate and timely if it is to be actioned efficiently.
A let-only service is for those landlords who wish to manage their rented properties day-to-day and collect rents while the letting agent finds the tenants, checks bonafides and prepares the legal documents including registering the tenancy with the RTB. When these tenancy agreements are being registered on the RTB portal the details of the Agent should not be included as authorised to act on behalf of a landlord.
A letting agent that manages a property will perform the same services as let-only but will also take care of the general day to day running of a rented property and deal directly with the tenants. When these tenancy agreements are being registered on the RTB portal the details of the Agent should be included as authorised to act on behalf of a landlord.
Where bulk registrations are completed by an agent on behalf of several landlords, form fields relating to an agent’s details are automatically filed without user interaction. This setting does cause problems further down the line.
Once local authority inspection activity recommences in July 2021, Inspex will be reviewing the data already received from the RTB and will be contacting landlords and agents again to arrange an inspection of rented properties as per Housing Standards.
With local authorities working to meet DHPLG targets for independent inspection of the rental stock and with Inspex working on behalf of several local authorities to deliver the targets, the more accurate information is at RTB tenancy registration, the more efficient the process is in the wider context of seeking to maintain the standard and safety of accommodation generally across the sector.