Just 1 in 20 privately rented properties in this county were inspected by Clare County Council in 2020.
Figures contained in the latest annual report by the National Oversight and Audit Commission, measure the performance of the country’s 31 local authorities across a range of services.
While standards for rented houses stipulate a landlord must ensure a property is in a proper state of structural repair, Independent TD Michael McNamara says the number of local authority inspections to manage these standards was inadequate.
But Deputy McNamara claims Clare isn’t in a bad position compared to other counties.
Statement from Clare County Council
842 inspections were undertaken on private rented properties during 2019.
288 inspections were undertaken on private rented properties during 2020.
2020 was a year like no other. In March 2020 the country shut down in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the continued delivery of service during Covid-19 restrictions saw the most intensely concentrated period of change in the public service. The inspection rate for private rented properties was impacted by Covid-19 restrictions, and the 2020 inspections is significantly less than numbers achieved in previous years due as a result. In late 2021 an online platform for undertaking inspections of private rented properties was rolled out and this Council has engaged with landlords and tenants of private rented properties to inspect the standard of private rented accommodation in this county via this new platform. As restrictions allow and tenants agree to physical inspections it is our intention to ramp up physical inspections of private rented properties.
