Rental watchdog defends €2m printing and postage spend as part of 'statutory duties'

The spokesperson said that, under current legislation, the RTB is required to send documents by post that include confirmation of tenancy registration which must be issued by post to each tenant associated with the tenancy with a confirmation also issued to the landlord. File Picture: Pexels

The country's rental sector watchdog has defended a €2m-a-year spend on printing and postage which an MEP had deemed "unacceptable".

Ireland South MEP Cynthia Ní Mhurchú had been given the figures by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) that showed around €1.9m of the spend was on postage.

The Fianna Fáil MEP questioned both that spend and the €1.3m the RTB has spent on PR and communications advice since 2019.

“The RTB should be spending less on stamps and spin and more on getting the timelines in residential tenancy disputes down to an acceptable timeframe," Ms Ní Mhurchú said.

“Spending over €2m on stamps, postage, and printing in just one year is the kind of spending that makes taxpayers wonder if anyone is checking the basics. Can the RTB not use email? 

"How many trees were cut down, and how much energy was expended posting out thousands of letters like that? Surely, in 2025, there has to be a more efficient, energy efficient way to conduct their business?”

External consultants costs

Ms Ní Mhurchú said that public funds "should always be used in a way that delivers clear value to the people who ultimately pay for these services”.

“In this instance, spending on external consultants seems excessive. The RTB should be more focused on investing in improving timelines in dispute resolution, so that landlords and tenants can get quick decisions when disputes arise.”

However, an RTB spokesperson said that the spend was "essential to perform our statutory duties as legislated for under the Residential Tenancies Act". 

The spokesperson said that, under current legislation, the RTB is required to send documents by post that include confirmation of tenancy registration which must be issued by post to each tenant associated with the tenancy with a confirmation also issued to the landlord.

The RTB also sends physical copies of notification of dispute applications and dispute hearings "when we do not have an email address for one of the case parties". 

The RTB cannot proceed with a dispute hearing unless it can confirm the document was served to both parties to the dispute, the spokesperson added.

A number of other notices are sent as well as correspondence sent to landlords and tenants when the RTB receives a notice of termination from a landlord.

The board's spokesperson said that the "volume of documents that we are required to send by post by law is significant".

"In 2024, we processed 350,985 tenancy registrations, 9,564 applications for dispute resolution, and issued over 1,200 notices as part of our compliance and enforcement processes. 

"The RTB also issued correspondence to landlords and tenants following receipt of 16,546 notices of termination in 2024."

On the RTB's expenditure on PR and communications, the spokesperson said that, in 2024, the RTB began a process to "reduce our use of external communications consultants to deliver on our public information and stakeholder engagement remit". 

This involved hiring three communications specialists between July 2024 and January 2025. 

The RTB no longer has a retainer for public relations support with a PR company.