Minister for Housing announces highest ever number of private rental accommodation inspections
- Published on: 5 May 2025
- Last updated on: 5 May 2025
- Over 80,000 inspections carried out by local authorities last year – a 26% increase on 2023
- Increased funding of €10.5 million made available to local authority inspection teams for 2025
The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne TD, has today published figures showing that 80,150 inspections on private rental accommodation were carried out by local authorities during 2024. This represents a 26% increase on the 63,500 inspections conducted in 2023.
Overall, the number of inspections conducted has quadrupled in recent years.
Inspection levels have increased from an average of 20,000 a year in the period 2005 to 2017 to over 49,000 in 2022, more than 63,500 in 2023, and an all-time-high of over 80,000 in 2024.
Minister Browne said:
“Ensuring that private rented accommodation regardless of what town city or rural area you’re renting meets required standards is incredibly important. I want robust inspections to continue in earnest. We want to ensure that rental tenants are afforded standards which ensure requirements such as adequate heating, ventilation, sanitation, and fire safety measures are met. It’s the basics - and it is what renters should be able to expect from every landlord.”
“I want to compliment the work of local authorities who have significantly increased their rates of inspections. It’s important that this work is done. We have provided increased funding of €10.5m for 2025 to further ramp-up inspections and help achieve our ambitious inspection targets.”.
“This work will undoubtedly lead to quicker identification and rectification of substandard living conditions, ensuring properties meet the minimum legal requirements for health, safety, and general liveability.”
The minimum standards for rental accommodation are prescribed in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019 and specify requirements in relation to a range of matters, such as structural repair, sanitary facilities, heating, ventilation, natural light, fire safety and the safety of gas, oil and electrical installations.
These regulations apply to all properties let or available for let. All landlords have a legal obligation to ensure that their rented properties comply with the standards set down in the Regulations.
Inspections per local authority.
ENDS
Notes to Editor
- Responsibility for the enforcement of the Regulations in the private rental sector rests with the relevant local authority with the Department providing ring-fenced exchequer funding as a subvention to help them reach those targets which is helping to increase the inspection capacity of local authorities and compliance levels in the private rental sector.
- If a property has been found to be non-compliant with the Regulations, it is a matter for the local authority to determine what action is necessary and appropriate. They can issue an Improvement Letter or serve an Improvement Notice. In most cases they opt for the former. If the Improvement Letter has not been complied with, the local authority can escalate matters and serve an Improvement Notice.
- Where a landlord fails to comply with an Improvement Notice, the inspector may serve a Prohibition Notice (which directs that a dwelling cannot be re-let until all contraventions are remedied) and may consider instituting legal proceedings.