A third of 270 rental properties near UCC not registered with RTB, say residents

Magazine Rd residents say they told the Residential Tenancies Board about 67 of the 100 non-registered properties back in 2017

Magazine Road and Surrounding Areas Residents Association carried out surveys of rental properties near UCC, most recently in January this year. File picture

Residents have threatened to lodge a formal complaint with the Ombudsman over the Residential Tenancies Board’s (RTB) oversight of private rental property around University College Cork.

It follows a sample check by the Magazine Road and Surrounding Areas Residents Association which found that more than a third of the 270 privately rented properties around UCC appear not to be registered with the RTB.

It is the fifth time in seven years that the group has found such high levels of apparent non-registration.

Association chairperson Catherine Clancy said they have repeatedly raised their concerns about this issue with the RTB, most recently in February 2022. She said: 

Over a year later, despite receiving assurances that the matters we raised were receiving the appropriate attention, we are still waiting on a promised substantive response.

“This despite the RTB replying that it takes the non-registration of properties seriously.”

The residents’ most recent sample check was conducted in January. It shows that, of the 270 privately rented properties around UCC, 100 appear not to be registered with the RTB. And of those, 67 were first highlighted to the RTB in 2017.

Ms Clancy said nothing appears to have been done since, despite legislation introduced in 2014 which requires all privately rented properties to be registered with the RTB.

“It is our experience as residents, and also given the number of high-profile individuals not registering their properties as recently highlighted in the media, that it is apparent that there is no appetite for enforcement by the RTB,” she said.

Catherine Clancy, chairwoman of the Magazine Road and Surrounding Areas Residents Association. File picture: David Keane

She said a core responsibility of the RTB is to provide updated and accurate figures on the private rental market to the Government, but that their sample check suggests that the available data on privately rented properties within the State is far from accurate.

The association has now written to RTB director Niall Byrne calling for clarity on the board’s enforcement action and warning that if a substantive response is not received soon, “these issues will be referred to the Office of the Ombudsman for consideration”.

The RTB was asked tonight to comment.

It published figures in November which show that it had a pipeline of over 460 investigations.

During 2021, it approved 169 investigations into potential improper conduct, 135 of which were initiated by the RTB and 34 based on formal written complaints from the public.

The RTB also confirmed that it had imposed 38 sanctions on landlords, most (29) for breaches of rent pressure zone regulations, and eight for failure to register their tenancy with the RTB.

The sanctions ranged from a written caution up to a fine of €3,963.76.