COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF HOUSING SPC

Thursday, February 16, 2023

HEADED ITEM NO. 10 (d)

Rental Inspections (Final 2022 Report)

Further to the report to this committee in February 2022, the "Strategy for the Rental Sector" (2016) set out the objective that private rented inspections carried out by Local Authorities were to incrementally increase over a four-year period with the aim of reaching a rate of annual inspections of 25% of all private rented properties by 2021.  Based on registered tenancies in our administrative area at the start of 2022 a total of 4,270 inspections were to be carried out in the County., with inspections carried out by a private contractor along with local Environmental Health Officers and the Council's Clerk of Works.

As signalled in the February report achieving this target for 2022 was challenging having lost the momentum of previously achieved incremental increases towards the 25% target due to covid lockdowns and the re-starting the processes for organising and arranging inspections.  In addition, our contractor reported difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff as well as a reluctance to allow in person inspections take place.    Notwithstanding this, a total of 3,629 inspections were carried out in 2022, representing approximately 85% of the target number of inspections with the following breakdown of inspection types:

Inspection Type

Number of Inspections

% of Total Inspections

1st Inspection

2,236

61.61%

Re-inspection

1,393

38.39%

Total 

3,629

100% 

The updated 2023 inspection target will be finalised based on the RTB data on the updated number of private rented tenancies in the County, and our object is to meet and exceed this target while also increasing the proportionate number of first inspections.  We will work with the external contractor to support their increased resourcing for this work area while also ensuring we maximise the capacity with the EHO and other Council resources for inspections.  Further objectives for 2023 to increase the output in this area will focus on supporting the RTB wherever possible to improve data quality and also examining options to enhance the use of  technology to integrate inspection data for improved evaluation, planning, analysis, enforcement, and reporting (noting that the recently introduced integrated housing system does not yet support private rented inspections).