Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 May 2023
414. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will confirm whether changes have been made to guidance for dealing with HAP tenants in arrears in their differential rent; and if so, if he will outline the changes. [26187/23]
View answerThe Government agreed on 7 March that the ‘Winter Emergency Period’ would come to an end on 31 March 2023, with deferred tenancy terminations taking effect over a staggered period from 1 April to 18 June 2023 as planned and legislated for.
Additional mitigation measures were also agreed in order to ease the impact of the end of the winter emergency period, including to amend the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) to guarantee payment to landlords where the tenant defaults on payment of differential rent, effective from 1 May 2023.
Tenants in the HAP scheme are required to sign a rent contribution agreement to pay a weekly rental contribution to the relevant local authority, in line with the local authority’s differential rent scheme. As set out in the rent contribution agreement, this weekly rental contribution must be paid by them so that they remain eligible for the HAP scheme.
From 1 May 2023 when a HAP tenant defaults on their differential rent payment to the local authority they will be offered the option of a payment plan to assist them in maintaining their tenancy and allow the HAP payment to the landlord to continue.
If the tenant defaults on payment of differential rent or the payment plan, under the Landlord Payment Guarantee, the HAP payment to the landlord will be guaranteed for a 12 month period or earlier if the tenancy ends. The Landlord Guarantee will only be applicable to tenancies reaching suspension stage of the debt management process from the 1 May 2023.
The implementation of this measure should encourage landlords to remain in the private rental market and make properties available for HAP tenants.
