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10/08/2012
Over €30m In Rent Deposits Never Paid Back To State
Over €30 million in refundable rent deposits have not been returned to the Department of Social protection.
The money has been paid out by the department since 2006 and despite being refundable at the end of a tenancy, none of the money has been returned.
It is not known if the money is being withheld by landlords or kept by the tenant after it has been handed back.
For tenants moving into new rental accommodation, deposits, usually equal to one month’s rent, generally ranging from €450 to €1,000, but sometimes above this figure, have been paid by welfare officers.
As with deposits in the private rented sector, they are repayable at the end of the tenancy if the requirements of the lease have been complied with and there are no outstanding debts owed to the landlord.
However, of the €32.3 million paid to landlords in deposits in the last six years, the department said it has no record of any money being returned.
Labour TD Kevin Humphreys said it was not acceptable that this money should be “written off” by the department. “I am shocked that over €30 million has been spent on rental deposits since 2006 and that none of that money has been recovered.”
The establishment of a deposit protection scheme, a commitment in the programme for government, would allow these deposits to be returned to the State if there were no problems with the tenancies, and this could save millions of euro, Mr Humphreys said.
“I believe that a rental deposit protection scheme run through the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) would allow these deposits to be recovered when a tenancy comes to an end, when a person moves into full private rental accommodation or other social housing schemes,” he said.
(H)
The money has been paid out by the department since 2006 and despite being refundable at the end of a tenancy, none of the money has been returned.
It is not known if the money is being withheld by landlords or kept by the tenant after it has been handed back.
For tenants moving into new rental accommodation, deposits, usually equal to one month’s rent, generally ranging from €450 to €1,000, but sometimes above this figure, have been paid by welfare officers.
As with deposits in the private rented sector, they are repayable at the end of the tenancy if the requirements of the lease have been complied with and there are no outstanding debts owed to the landlord.
However, of the €32.3 million paid to landlords in deposits in the last six years, the department said it has no record of any money being returned.
Labour TD Kevin Humphreys said it was not acceptable that this money should be “written off” by the department. “I am shocked that over €30 million has been spent on rental deposits since 2006 and that none of that money has been recovered.”
The establishment of a deposit protection scheme, a commitment in the programme for government, would allow these deposits to be returned to the State if there were no problems with the tenancies, and this could save millions of euro, Mr Humphreys said.
“I believe that a rental deposit protection scheme run through the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) would allow these deposits to be recovered when a tenancy comes to an end, when a person moves into full private rental accommodation or other social housing schemes,” he said.
(H)
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