S.I. No. 337/1984:

HOUSING (PRIVATE RENTED DWELLINGS) (STANDARDS) REGULATIONS, 1984.

HOUSING (PRIVATE RENTED DWELLINGS) (STANDARDS) REGULATIONS, 1984.

CONTENTS

1. Citation.

2. Commencement.

3. Interpretation.

4. Application.

5. Structural repair.

6. Bathrooms, waterclosets, water supply and drainage.

7. Services.

8. Ventilation and lighting.

9. Common areas, boundaries and services used in common.

10. Limitation on landlord's obligation to repair.

S.I. No. 337 of 1984.

HOUSING (PRIVATE RENTED DWELLINGS) (STANDARDS) REGULATIONS, 1984

The Minister for the Environment, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 26 of the Housing (Private Rented Dwellings) Act, 1982 (No. 6 of 1982), hereby makes the following Regulations:--

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Housing (Private Rented Dwellings) (Standards) Regulations, 1984.

2. (1) Subject to sub-article (2) of this article, these Regulations shall come into operation on the 1st day of April, 1985.

(2) As respects dwellings the terms of tenancy of which were, before the 1st day of April, 1985, set out in written form and signed by the landlord or his agent in accordance with section 11 (2) of the Act, these Regulations shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1988 or the earlier fixing, not being before the 1st day of April, 1985, by the Rent Tribunal or a rent officer of the rent of the dwelling made under section 5 of the Act of 1983.

3. (1) In these Regulations--

"the Act" means the Housing (Private Rented Dwellings) Act, 1982 ;

"the Act of 1983" means the Housing (Private Rented Dwellings) (Amendment) Act, 1983 (No. 22 of 1983);

"local authority" means a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act, 1941 (No. 23 of 1941);

"rent officer" means a rent officer appointed under section 6(2) of the Act of 1983;

"statutory undertaker" means a person authorised by or under statute to construct, work, or carry on a railway, canal, inland navigation, dock, harbour, gas, electricity, telephone, postal or other public undertaking;

"the Tribunal" means the Rent Tribunal established under section 2 of the Act of 1983.

(2) Any requirement of these Regulations with respect to repair shall be construed as requiring a standard of repair that is reasonable in all the circumstances and, in determining the appropriate standard of repair, regard shall be had to the age, character and prospective life of the dwelling.

(3) Nothing in these Regulations shall be taken as requiring or authorising anything to be done in connection with a water supply, drainage system or the supply of gas or electricity otherwise than in accordance with the enactments relating thereto, or as obliging a landlord to take any action which is the responsibility of a local authority or statutory undertaker, other than such action as may be necessary to bring the matter to the attention of the local authority or statutory undertaker concerned.

4. These Regulations shall have application in respect of every dwelling to which Part II of the Act applies.

5. (1) The landlord shall ensure that the dwelling is maintained in a proper state of structural repair and shall carry out such works as may from time to time be necessary for this purpose.

(2) For the purpose of this article "a proper state of structural repair" means essentially sound, with roof, floors, ceilings, walls and stairs in good repair and not subject to serious dampness or liable to collapse because they are rotted or otherwise defective.

6. (1) A sink and a fixed bath or shower shall be provided by the landlord either--

( a ) in the dwelling, or

( b ) in a part of the building adjacent to the dwelling and such that they are either on the same floor as the dwelling or on the floor next above or below the dwelling.

(2) A watercloset shall be provided by the landlord either--

( a ) in the dwelling, or

( b ) in or adjacent to the building.

(3) Facilities provided in accordance with this article shall not be shared by the occupants of more than three dwellings.

(4) The landlord shall--

( a ) make provision for a piped supply of water for every watercloset, sink, bath, shower and wash-hand basin, together with an effective means of drainage and shall provide a means of heating water supplied to one sink and one bath or shower,

( b ) ensure that any water pipe which is so placed, whether inside or outside the house, as to render it liable to damage by freezing, shall (unless it is an overflow pipe) be effectively protected from freezing.

7. The landlord shall ensure that the installations in the dwelling for the supply of gas and electricity are in good repair and safe working order and that provision is made for the effective removal of fumes to the external air.

8. (1) Subject to sub-article (2) of this article, the landlord shall--

( a ) ensure that every room used, or intended for use, as a habitable room is provided with adequate natural lighting and ventilation and that all windows and other means of ventilation are in good order and repair;

( b ) ensure that every room used, or intended for use, as a bedroom is provided with means of ventilation either by the flue of an open fireplace or by one or more permanent ventilation openings having a total unobstructed sectional area of not less than 6,500 square millimetres and opening directly to the external air or into a passage, lobby or similar space which is ventilated by a ventilation opening or into which a doorway to the building opens;

( c ) provide every bathroom, washroom and watercloset, other than a watercloset entered directly from the external air, with an efficient means of ventilation directly to the external air, either by means of a window having an openable area of not less than 930 square centimetres and opening directly to the external air or by means of a mechanical ventilation system to the external air capable of providing a minimum extraction of 21 cubic metres per hour;

( d ) provide adequate means for the artificial lighting of every room.

(2) Sub-article (1) of this article shall not require a landlord to make good any breakages of glass in windows in any part of the dwelling of which a tenant has exclusive use.

9. The landlord shall--

( a ) keep in good repair and safe working order all means of cooking, lighting and heating which are used by the tenant in common with other persons;

( b ) keep in good repair all outbuildings, yards and forecourts which are used by the tenant in common with other persons;

( c ) keep in a clean state every unoccupied basement or cellar in the building;

( d ) keep in a clean state and in good repair every open space, stairway, landing, passage and other part of the building which is used by the tenant in common with other persons and in particular--

(i) provide every stairway with a substantial handrail securely fixed;

(ii) provide adequate means for the lighting of any hall, passageway or other means of access;

( e ) ensure that boundary walls, fences and railings of the building in which the dwelling is situated are kept in reasonable repair so as not to constitute a danger to the occupants of the dwelling;

( f ) keep in a clean state and in good repair every watercloset, sink, basin, fixed bath and shower which is used by the tenant in common with other persons.

10. Nothing in these Regulations shall oblige the landlord to repair, keep in repair or maintain anything which a tenant is entitled to remove from the dwelling.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for the Environment this

14th day of December, 1984.

LIAM KAVANAGH,

Minister for the Environment.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

The Regulations set standards in relation to those rented dwellings formerly controlled under the Rent Restrictions Acts, 1960 to 1981 to which Part II of the Housing (Private Rented Dwellings) Act, 1982 , applies. The standards relate to such matters as structural repair, bathrooms and waterclosets, water supply and drainage, services, ventilation, lighting, common areas, boundaries and services used in common.

The Regulations will come into operation on the 1st day of April, 1985. However, in the case of dwellings for which the terms of tenancy have been set out in written form and signed by the landlord or his agent in accordance with section 11 (2) of the Housing (Private Rented Dwellings) Act, 1982 before that date the Regulations will not come into operation until the 1st day of January, 1988 or until a new rent for the dwelling is fixed, by the Rent Tribunal or a rent officer as the case may be, whichever is the earlier.

The penalty for contravention of the Regulations set out in section 27 of the Housing (Private Rented Dwellings) Act, 1982 is a fine not exceeding £500.