COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, March 09, 2026
QUESTION NO. 1
QUESTION: Councillor C. Brady
To ask the Chief Executive to provide a report on private rented property inspections carried out by Global Home Warranties, including the number of inspections undertaken in each Local Electoral Area (LEA), the issues identified and their frequency, whether enforcement orders were issued and the potential consequences of such orders, the number of referrals made to the Residential Tenancies Board in each LEA, and to make a statement on the matter.
REPLY:
The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) is the statutory body responsible for the operation of a National Registration System for all private residential tenancies, Approved Housing Body (AHB), student specific accommodation and cost rental tenancies. There are ten specific legal breaches that the RTB can investigate and sanction landlords for. Breaches of the standards for rental accommodation is not one of those ten specific legal breaches. We are not required to report to the RTB details of issues identified under the standards.
The RTB issues to the local authority an inventory of properties for inspection within its administrative area. We are responsible for determining whether a property meets the standards for rental accommodation and, where the property does not, for ensuring compliance using improvement and prohibition notices and legal proceedings where necessary.
Our Private Rented Inspections team carries out a programme of planned inspections of properties and investigates complaints made by tenants. Proactive inspections are carried out by a combination of an external contractor and an in-house inspector who was appointed in September 2025. Health Service Executive Environmental Health Officers carry out an enforcement role on behalf of the council, performing a combination of proactive inspections and reactive inspections to investigate tenant complaints.
An external Contractor was appointed in September 2023 to carry out inspections of private rented accommodation under the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. The typical inspection cycle constitutes a first inspection and one re-inspection. Where contraventions of the Regulations are identified, an improvement letter issues to the landlord detailing the contravention(s) and giving a timeframe for completion of works. Where there is continued non-compliance on completion of the inspection cycle, properties are escalated to the Environmental Health Office for follow up, with the view to achieving compliance. The Environmental Health Officers actively work with landlords to achieve compliance with the Regulations. Where, in the professional opinion of the Environmental Health Officer it is deemed warranted, the following actions may be taken:-
- issue of an Improvement Notice, where there is a history of non-compliance with other measures such as improvement letters.
- issue of a Prohibition Notice, where a landlord fails to comply with an Improvement Notice.
- initiation of legal Proceedings, where a landlord fails to comply with the Improvement Notice.
The data set out below related to inspections carried out by the external contractor and spans the period from September 2023 when the contractor was appointed to date. It sets out contraventions under each of the ten Regulations. The RTB reporting system does not support the breakdown of information by Local Electoral Area, instead the list provided is broken down into Dublin region, by Eircode.
|
Failures by Regulation (see below for description) |
Improvement Letters issued to Landlord |
Total Inspections carried out |
||||||||||
|
Reg. 4 |
Reg. 5 |
Reg. 6 |
Reg. 7 |
Reg. 8 |
Reg. 9 |
Reg. 10 |
Reg. 11 |
Reg. 12 |
Reg. 13 |
|||
|
Dublin 6W |
157 |
43 |
51 |
25 |
27 |
7 |
101 |
0 |
120 |
0 |
218 |
281 |
|
Dublin 10 |
11 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
11 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
11 |
11 |
|
Dublin 12 |
94 |
30 |
37 |
22 |
29 |
1 |
73 |
0 |
56 |
1 |
112 |
118 |
|
Dublin 14 |
210 |
35 |
70 |
24 |
49 |
6 |
172 |
1 |
139 |
6 |
276 |
337 |
|
Dublin 16 |
233 |
56 |
68 |
42 |
25 |
7 |
524 |
1 |
95 |
1 |
666 |
929 |
|
Dublin 20 |
107 |
34 |
47 |
19 |
22 |
4 |
62 |
1 |
50 |
2 |
163 |
325 |
|
Dublin 22 |
1085 |
305 |
414 |
236 |
202 |
42 |
732 |
15 |
468 |
20 |
1552 |
2295 |
|
Dublin 24 |
2384 |
475 |
767 |
457 |
391 |
64 |
1762 |
9 |
757 |
13 |
3282 |
4371 |
|
Lucan - K78 |
1217 |
293 |
559 |
233 |
182 |
31 |
941 |
6 |
685 |
43 |
2021 |
2989 |
Regulation 4: Structural Condition
Regulation 5: Sanitary Facilities
Regulation 6: Heating Facilities
Regulation 7: Food Preparation and Storage and Laundry
Regulation 8: Ventilation
Regulation 9: Lighting
Regulation 10: Fire Safety
Regulation 11: Refuse Facilities
Regulation 12: Gas, Oil and Electricity Installations
Regulation 13: Information
Since appointment of the contractor in September 2023, twenty-two Improvement Notices and two Prohibition Notices have been served on landlords. Legal Proceedings have been initiated against the landlord of three properties, which are at various stages of progression with our Law Department. The potential outcome of legal proceedings is a fine of up to €1,270 and/or a criminal conviction.