Rules force landlords to maintain properties

Victor

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1202/1224259892618.html

Rules force landlords to maintain properties
OLIVIA KELLY

LANDLORDS WILL be forced to repair roofs, paint windows and cut the grass of their privately rented properties under new standards introduced by Minister of State for Housing Michael Finneran.

The new regulations, which have been brought into force with immediate effect, will give local authorities the power to ban property owners from renting accommodation if they fail, in the authority’s estimation, to meet the required standards.

Landlords will be required to keep their properties in a “proper state of structural repair” and ensure they are sound “internally and externally”.

Specifically roofs, ceilings, walls, stairs, doors, tiles, skirting boards, gutters and windows must be well maintained and free from damp.

Gardens and all common areas must be neat and tidy, well maintained and free from debris.

A local authority that concludes that a property owner is failing to meet the standards can, in the first instance, issue an improvement notice detailing the work that the landlord must do within a specific time.

Failure to comply with the notice will result in a prohibition notice, which bans the landlord from making their property available to rent.

Where tenants are in situ, they will not have to leave the property, but if they decide to do so they will not face sanctions for breaking a lease term.

Where a landlord ignores a prohibition notice because they have sitting tenants who they are confident will not leave, they face a fine of €5,000, and a further €400 for each day they continue to breach the regulations.

The new regulations would stop property owners allowing their houses and flats to become rundown and would end the situation where a rented property stands out among owner-occupied homes because of its poor appearance.

“I find it unacceptable that in many areas the rented properties are obvious by their poorly kept facade,” Mr Finneran said.

“This new legislation specifies that the general responsibility for the external appearance of rental accommodation lies with the landlord and gives housing authorities enforceable grounds on which to deal with landlords in this regard.”

The new regulations follow the minimum standards for facilities in rented accommodation, introduced last February. These required that each house and flat has its own sanitary facilities, along with modern standards for food storage, food preparation, refuse and laundry, ventilation, lighting and fire safety. Both sets of regulations replace laws introduced 15 years ago.

The regulations are part of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and are available from the Department of the Environment or at www.environ.ie