Legislative Focus On Private Rental Sector

A range of new powers that will regulate the private rented sector in Northern Ireland as well as helping to address antisocial behaviour and tackle fuel poverty in social housing has been passed into legislation.

The Housing (Amendment) (No.2) Bill successfully completed its Final Stage in the Assembly this week.

The private rented sector has grown dramatically in the past 10 years and now accounts for around 17% of the total housing stock in Northern Ireland, providing a home for one in six people here.

The Bill now gives the Department the power to introduce mandatory landlord registration and tenancy deposit schemes, both of which will help to protect and support tenants and landlords alike. There is also a new system of fines and penalties to deal with those landlords who persist in operating outside the regulatory framework.

NI Social Development Minister Alex Attwood said: "The private rented sector in Northern Ireland has changed beyond recognition in the past two decades and in the past Government has failed to keep up with the pace of this change.

"This Bill will raise standards in the sector and will help to protect tenants from being exploited by a small minority of bad landlords. Good landlords will have nothing to fear from the new schemes which will operate with minimal cost and bureaucracy. I welcome having reached this milestone in the process of reform begun by my colleague Margaret Ritchie in 2010."

The Minister also welcomed new powers enabling the NI Housing Executive to broker energy costs for their tenants at a discounted rate: "Fuel prices are still far too high, especially for our most vulnerable tenants.

"In fact, the rate of fuel poverty for tenants in Housing Executive households is now the highest of all tenures, with 57% of these households living in fuel poverty. Social housing consists of approximately 120,000 homes in Northern Ireland and forms a significant share of the domestic energy market.

"This new provision empowers Government to use this bargaining power to get the best deal possible for Housing Executive and Housing Association tenants," he said.

The Bill also introduces new powers for social landlords to tackle the spread of antisocial behaviour.

Under the new legislation, the Housing Executive and Housing Associations will be able to prevent antisocial tenants from exchanging houses with other tenants and continuing to behave badly in a new area. In essence, this means that such behaviour will be dealt with at source and will not be allowed to spread.

The Minister concluded: "People should have the right to live in areas which are free of antisocial behaviour but this does not mean that problem tenants should simply be allowed to move to other areas and infect new communities.

"These provisions will ensure that antisocial tenants will be dealt with decisively and effectively rather than shifted around indefinitely. Ultimately, if antisocial behaviour is repeated and sustained, the tenants responsible must face repossession."

(BMcC/KMcA)