RTB apologises for delays faced by landlords trying to register tenancies

The RTB said it was still experiencing 'high volumes of calls, webchat and emails', and recognised that 'this is particularly testing and frustrating'.

The Residential Tenancies Board has apologised to landlords and letting agents for the delays they are facing as it pledged to refund all of those facing late registration fees “in due course”.

Landlords had faced a €10 per month late registration fee from August 4 for not registering tenancies on annual basis.

The system, brought in from April 4, means landlords have to register their tenancies with the RTB every year within one month of their commencement or on the anniversary of when the tenancy began.

However, landlords and agents have complained of numerous challenges using the RTB’s software to register these tenancies.

In an update on Thursday, the RTB said it was still experiencing “high volumes of calls, webchat and emails”, and recognised that “this is particularly testing and frustrating”.

Although landlords who have not registered in the deadline may have been hit with late fees, the RTB said these would be refunded for new tenancy registrations with a commencement date on or after April 4 and on annual registrations of existing tenancies which became due on or after the same date.

"We sincerely apologise for the long waiting times to get through to our call centre and web-chat agents as well as for the delays in receiving an email response,” it said. “We would like to reassure our customers that action is under way to improve the situation.” 

Last month, the Irish Examiner reported that the RTB had almost doubled the number of agency staff it has in recent months as it struggles to meet the “significantly high” volume of calls it is receiving.

To try to address its issues, the RTB said it had worked with its contracted service provider to increase its staffing on the RTB account from 49 to 80 as of the end of June.