Rent Supplement Rent Limits To Reflect Real Prices And Promote Fair Rent - Ó Cuív

"Our priority is to ensure that the 95,000 households supported by rent supplement can secure quality accommodation at a fair rent and that landlords are not charging artificially high rents. Reducing the rent supplement rent limits to reflect real prices will assist us to do that and will promote a fair rent.

"The cost of rented accommodation has fallen since its peak in 2007. Rental prices were last reviewed in June 2009 and have fallen since then. The current regulations that set the maximum rent limits for rent supplement have served us well but they have now served their time. The new rent limits which I am outlining today will reflect real prices in each county and Community Welfare Officers will continue to have flexibility to take account of the reality in their own localities."

Minister Ó Cuív continued: "The new maximum rent limits for the rent supplement scheme will apply firstly to new claims for rent supplement and will then apply to existing claims as they come to be reviewed."

The new rent limits follow a review undertaken by the Department over the last 12 months.  The maximum rent limit refers to the maximum rent which can be charged on a property where rent supplement is payable.  In 2009 the Department paid over €500 million in rent supplement.

The Minister added: "The State also needs to ensure that the person in private rented accommodation and not receiving rent supplement is not paying an artificially high rent. It is essential that State support for rents are kept under review, reflect current market conditions and do not distort the market in any way."

The proposed new limits will ensure that different categories of eligible households can continue to secure and retain suitable rented accommodation, having regard to the different rental market conditions that exist in various parts of the country.

This most recent rents review undertaken by the Department of Social Protection used publicly available data to ascertain both market trends and the current rent asking prices for one, two and three bedroom properties throughout Ireland on a county by county basis.

Information from the Private Residential Property Board databases; the CSO Rental Indices, in addition to the various rental market reports was utilised. Consultation with certain local Superintendent Community Welfare Officers also took place as part of the review.

As part of the consultative process, the views of various bodies were sought. The overwhelming view from the consultation process was concerns over the rent limit for single people. These views were supported by the analysis. Accordingly it is not proposed to reduce single rates for people living on their own for the majority of counties.

Dublin is generally unaffected under the proposals as average asking prices from the review's analysis are still broadly in line with the current rent limits.

Rent supplement limits specific to the Fingal Local Authority are being introduced to reflect the different levels of rent in the area.