Strict house inspections putting Tipperary landlords off taking part in HAP and RAS schemes
Councillors complain of high failure rate for private houses inspected for approval for the social housing scheme
Tipperary County Council has been told the standards required for homes to be approved for letting under the social housing HAP and RAS schemes is too high and putting off some private landlords from taking part in them.
That was the message the Council’s Housing Director Jonathan Cooney was given at the local authority’s latest monthly meeting in Clonmel.
Independent Cashel Cllr Liam Browne was the first to raise the issue at the meeting. He wondered was the standard required for houses to be approved to accommodate tenants under the Housing Assistance Payment and Rental Accommodation Scheme very high given the high failure rate for inspections.
He also asked was the same level of inspections carried out on the Council’s own housing stock as these private houses.
Independent Newcastle Cllr Máirín McGrath reported receiving feedback from letting agencies and private landlords about how onerous the inspections are to get a house approved to let out to HAP tenants.
The standards required were so high the landlords didn’t want to get involved in the social housing schemes, she said.
“There are a lot of very decent landlords being pulled up for small issues that the tenants have no problem with,” she complained.
She cited the case of a house failing an inspector due to an issue with a window latch in an upstairs room. The house only accommodated adult tenants.
“We do need to apply common sense. The failure rate is probably due to the high standard we have.”
Cllr McGrath echoed Cllr Browne in arguing that many of the Council’s own houses would fail the same inspections.
Mr Cooney responded that the inspectors assessing houses for the HAP and RAS schemes have to complete an inspection report that doesn’t leave them room for discretion.
However, they do have discretion in terms of the length of time they can give a landlord to get work carried out to rectify any issues found in the inspection.
“By and large if the standard of accommodation is reasonable, we do work with landlords and give them time.”
Mr Cooney added that the Council has secured approval to appoint an inspector to inspect the local authority’s houses.
He estimated it will take two to three years to survey all the council’s homes but the work will start this year.