The estimated 80,000 landlords who have not registered their tenants have not realised that the days of illegal evictions and withholding deposits are over, a housing agency warned today.
Threshold said that landlords should sign up immediately to the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB), which was set up last year to regulate the rented sector. "The more landlords register, the better the legislation is capable of working properly.
This is the law and we want 100 per cent compliance," said chairwoman Aideen Hayden. Around 70,000 landlords have registered their tenancies with the PRTB since last September, which Threshold estimates is less than half of the total of 150,000 landlords.
Ms Hayden said that although the compliance rate was much better than when landlords had to register with their local authority's housing department, they were nothing to write home about. "Maybe a lot of landlords don't realise it is in their interest to register. If they don't, they have no access to the dispute mechanism."
The PRTB has already resolved around 100 landlord-tenant disputes informally and has issued determination orders in 10 cases. Three of these related to illegal evictions and seven to the non-vacating of a dwelling by a tenant.
Ms Hayden said landlords had to realise that they could no longer lock tenants out nor consider deposits to be their own personal property. But she said that there were now far less of the negative attitudes towards landlords and renting, which developed in the wake of the famine and the land wars.
"The size of the rented sector has increased by 50 per cent in the last decade and it's here to stay. There's nothing dirty about being a landlord or a tenant." Although there has not been full compliance from landlords, the PRTB was still deluged by the volume of applications when it set up.
An Post had to appoint an account manager to deal with the volume of mail and phone lines were constantly engaged with 15 phone calls a minute. When an answering machine service was set up, it gathered 24 hours of recorded messages within days.
Extra staff have been hired to address the problems. Landlords who do not register with the board face fines of up to €3,000 or six months imprisonment. PRTB deputy director Shirley Groake said all tenancies had to be registered within one month of tenants moving in. "We will absolutely be following up as necessary under the legislation," she said.
The Irish Property Owners Association (IPOA) said it believed landlords had shown exceptional compliance. But spokesman Fintan McNamara said it was grossly unfair that landlords had to pay registration fees each time a new tenant arrived.
He added that landlords were waiting to see how the board's low-cost dispute resolution system operated. "If it is the case that landlords are being excessively persecuted and tenants are getting off scot-free, there'll be questions to answer."