COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, March 14, 2022

QUESTION NO. 20

QUESTION: Councillor F. Timmons

To ask the Chief Executive for an report into Council and HAP homes inspections and to ask how often they are carried out and to report on how many have been found to breach standards and what action was taken? Can council/HAP tenants request an inspection?

REPLY:

All private rental dwellings are now scheduled for inspection at least every four years.  HAP properties are generally targeted to be inspected within eight months of a new sign-up while RAS properties are inspected when a contract is due for renewal and must be compliant before a new contract is agreed.  

Our experience has been that significant numbers of inspections fail due to easily remedied contraventions of the minimum housing standards legislation e.g. no fire blanket in the kitchen, out of date or non-functioning smoke alarms, no microwave, recent changes requiring multiple carbon monoxide detectors, window restrictors required for all openable windows 1400mm above ground etc.

Results of first inspections in recent years are shown below:

Year No. of Dwellings Inspected Non-Compliant on First Inspection % Non-Compliant
2019 2,748 2,606 95%
2020 2,987 1,606 54%
2021 789 719 91%

The Council continues to work with landlords and the Residential Tenancies Board to achieve compliance by following up on inspections, distributing information on the minimum standards to landlords to make them aware of their responsibilities, and highlight these common failure areas so they can address issues in advance and significant numbers of properties subsequently become compliant in advance of further inspections.

More complex structural, electrical, sanitary issues etc. are followed up by Environmental Health Officers who may utilise additional legislative powers to pursue the landlord to effect necessary remedial and upgrade works.

Tenants of private rental properties including HAP, RAS and Approved Housing Body properties should firstly report any issues to their landlord directly for resolution. In the case where the landlord fails to carry out required works the tenant can complete the online tenant complaint form in respect of Private Rental Housing Standards.