The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland has reminded tenants and landlords about the new residential rental accommodation standards which effectively ban shared bathrooms and landlord-controlled heating systems from today, Friday February 1st.
The SCSI said the four year graced period pertaining to certain provisions in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2008, will elapse shortly and this will mean that rental properties must be upgraded to meet the new standards.
Siobhan O’Dwyer, Chair of the Property & Facilities Management Professional Group of the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) said “the new Housing Standards dictate that from February 1st, rental properties will be required to have separate bathrooms, independently controlled heating appliances, adequate food preparation and storage facilities and access to laundry facilities and it is important that both tenants and landlords are fully informed about this”.
The SCSI said that the purpose of the Housing Regulations is to improve living conditions, particularly for those renting Pre-1963 units.
Ms O’Dwyer said that the average cost of upgrading units to the required standards was likely to vary, but a significant expenditure could be envisaged and recommended that tenants or landlords with questions should contact their local authority or the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government for further information on the new standards.
“The penalties for non-compliance with the regulations are a fine of €5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or both, and the fine for each day of a continuing offence is €400 so it is in landlord’s interests to ensure their rental accommodation meets the new standards”, concluded O’Dwyer.
Meanwhile, the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) will hold their annual dinner in Dublin’s Burlington Hotel on Thursday February 7th at 8pm.
This year’s guest speaker will be Dennis Turner, the former Chief Economist of HSBC Bank.
Last year’s black tie event attracted more than 900 members and guests.
This year’s fee will be €85 with further details and booking available by logging on to www.scsi.ie
