Results 101-120 of 9,814 for speaker:Steven Matthews

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage (Supplementary) (16 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: It is all Government members remaining. We are potentially in danger of losing a vote. I thank the Minister and his officials for their attendance.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Message to Dáil (16 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: In accordance with Standing Order 101, the following message will be sent to the Clerk of the Dáil: The Select Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage has completed its consideration of the following Supplementary Estimate for public services for the year ending 31 December 2024: Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Analysis of Private Rental Sector Discrepancies: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: We are meeting with the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, and the Central Statistics Office, CSO. I thank the witnesses for their attendance today, for the written submissions they sent us in advance and for the annual report of the RTB, which we have just been presented with. This follows on from a meeting we had some time ago following the discrepancy in figures about rental accommodation...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Analysis of Private Rental Sector Discrepancies: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: I thank Ms Steen. The first member to speak is Deputy Ó Broin.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Analysis of Private Rental Sector Discrepancies: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: I am taking the next slot. That is an interesting line of questioning that I wish to pursue. We all know from canvassing houses and knocking on doors that we often do not get an answer. I presume the CSO field workers also have the same experience. The scenario Deputy Ó Broin painted is that somebody renting a room within a property is a slightly different scenario from a lot of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Analysis of Private Rental Sector Discrepancies: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: It is a really difficult task to try to identify all of this because the CSO is dependent on somebody voluntarily filling out the CSO form. Many people comply with that and are quite happy to do so. That is one aspect to collecting the data. The other aspect then is to register with the RTB, which is obviously a legal requirement for the landlord. We know some landlords do not do that,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Analysis of Private Rental Sector Discrepancies: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: What is generally the response rate for filling in the CSO form? What would be the return?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Analysis of Private Rental Sector Discrepancies: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: That is pretty good all right. This is a question for the RTB. If it receives a complaint from a tenant and, in investigating that complaint, realises it is not registered tenancy, what steps or measures are taken? Does it follow that process of two contacts to the landlord that Ms Steen outlined in the opening statement?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Analysis of Private Rental Sector Discrepancies: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: I am thinking of a particular scenario. Tenants have come to me in the past about issues with the property they are renting and they would not know the address of the landlord and might only have a phone number for the landlord. It sounds like a very informal type of arrangement. What is available to the RTB to track the owner of the property on the assumption that the owner is likely to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Analysis of Private Rental Sector Discrepancies: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: Therefore, in every situation where the RTB becomes aware that this is most likely a rental situation that needs to be registered and does not appear to be registered, they all follow the same investigation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Analysis of Private Rental Sector Discrepancies: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: I have a couple of questions to follow up on as well. To follow the line of questioning from Deputy Ó Broin, the RTB might engage with a landlord where a report is made that there should be a registered tenancy, and if the landlord does not respond, it sends a second notice. If we look at the figures, the option available to the landlord is to register and become compliant with the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Analysis of Private Rental Sector Discrepancies: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: I referenced knocking on doors for years, and we come across all sorts of different living arrangements and various set-ups. I have often gone to what looked like one house at point and found there were two doors and two letterboxes. We do not know whether that is just a family member and they have segregated that off. I do not underestimate how difficult it is.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Analysis of Private Rental Sector Discrepancies: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: I appreciate that the RTB has had a considerable workload over the past couple of years. I know it is growing the organisation and the IT systems it has, etc. I would be interested in the results in terms of the number of landlords who choose to leave - I cannot call it the market because they are not really in the market; they should have been registered in the first place to be considered...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Analysis of Private Rental Sector Discrepancies: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: Is a landlord with a registered tenancy who exits required to inform the RTB?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Analysis of Private Rental Sector Discrepancies: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: We see the reasons, such as a landlord selling property or a family member moving in.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Analysis of Private Rental Sector Discrepancies: Discussion (Resumed) (15 Oct 2024)

Steven Matthews: I am interested in knowing how many landlords who were registered state, on investigation, that they have exited. When a rental property is vacant for two years, it can be reregistered then. Where somebody was evicted from a property, for whatever reason, and the property comes back into the system again, is it flagged with the RTB?