COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, March 10, 2025

QUESTION NO. 1

QUESTION: Councillor D. Adelaide

To ask the Chief Executive to provide a report following question Item ID: 85622. Report to include details of inspections on privately rented homes in 2023 and 2024 including dwellings inspected not meeting regulatory requirements upon first inspection; dwellings inspected not meeting regulatory requirements upon subsequent inspections (separate column for 2nd inspections)

REPLY:

Under the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019, the Council has a statutory obligation to enforce minimum standards in private rented accommodation. Inspections of private rented properties and follow-up actions are undertaken to ensure compliance with the Regulations. Inspections are primarily out as part of a planned inspection programme covering properties supported by Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS), Approved Housing Bodies (AHB) tenancies as well as private properties. In addition to this planned programme, properties are inspected by the Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) where complaints are reported directly to the council.

Where properties fail any of the nine regulatory minimum standard items, the landlord is notified of non-compliance and requested to resolve the issue(s) identified with follow-up inspections arranged, as necessary. Where there is continued contravention of the regulations further to inspections and improvement letters, the matter may be escalated by the EHOs who may proceed to initiate legal proceedings if the required works are not completed within a set timeframe.

In 2024, the Council exceeded the private rental inspection target of 3926 set by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

The Council’s private rental inspection team is available to assist and can be contacted by phone 01 4149153 or by email priu@sdublincoco.ie

The details of private rental inspections including information on first inspections and follow up inspections  for 2023 and 2024 are detailed below:  

2023:

No. of Dwellings inspected	Total Inspections Carried out	Dwellings inspected not meeting regulatory requirements on 1st Inspection (Non-compliant)	Dwellings inspected not meeting regulatory requirements on Re-Inspection (Non-compliant)	Improvement Letters	Improvement Notices	Prohibition Notices
2,732	3,139	1,174	858	2032	0	0

2024:

Dwellings inspected	Total Inspections Carried out	Dwellings inspected not meeting regulatory requirements on 1st Inspection (Non-compliant)	Dwellings inspected not meeting regulatory requirements on Re-Inspection (Non-compliant)	Improvement Letters	Improvement Notices	Prohibition Notices
4772	5739	3594	837	4431	8	1