Up to 60% of rented houses ‘not registered’

UP to 60% of rented houses around UCC and CIT are not registered with the Private Registered Tenancies Board (PRTB), it has been claimed.

A Cork University Residents Forum study also claimed that the amount of undeclared income to Revenue, in Cork alone, was most likely “jaw dropping”.

With few exceptions, private rented residential property must be registered with the PRTB. However, research by the forum suggests the average registration rate in the Cork area was about 57%.

The public register was last updated on November 23.

The study shows 413 of a total 944 private rentals are not registered.

The individual streets vary in size, but a general pattern can be observed, whereby purpose-built blocks of student housing have the highest level of compliance while areas with a long history of renting have very low registration.

The PRTB addressed the Oireachtas committee on the environment, transport, culture and the gaeltacht in October and said that nationally, 37% of landlords receiving rent supplement were not registered.

“This means the Department of Social Protection is paying €185 million to landlords who are not legally registered based on its own figures issued this week,” the residents forum’s survey noted.

It said that, at an average price tenancy in Cork of €850 per month, its analysis of the PTRB figures suggested that “undeclared income could be as high as €204m”.

“If the PRTB figure of 37% is accurate then this figure tumbles to a mere €152m,” it said.

“Nationally, there are 251,000 PRTB tenancies so the potential undeclared income could be upwards of €1.9 billion. The PRTB alone could be losing €17m in registration fees every year.”

The forum has claimed that, in many cases, income from these homes was not being declared for tax.

“This fraud can no longer be tolerated. Door-to-door action is needed by PRTB and the Revenue to ensure compliance and to collect the cash,” it said.

The highest percentage of unregistered rented accommodation was in the Mardyke area (60%), while the lowest was at Kenley Estate on the Model Farm Road near CIT (18%).