Private Rented Property Inspections

As a landlord you have a legal obligation to ensure that your rental home meets certain minimum physical standards. Local authorities are responsible for carrying out inspections on rental accommodation and enforcing the minimum standards.

These standards are set out in the S.I. No. 137/2019 – Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019

In general, the standards apply to dwellings rented from private landlords, local authorities and approved housing bodies

The regulations specify requirements in relation to:

• Structural Condition
• Sanitary Facilities
• Heating Facilities
• Food Preparation and Storage and Laundry
• Ventilation
• Lighting
• Fire Safety
• Refuse
• Gas, Oil and Electricity

If your property is identified for inspection, you will be contacted in order to arrange an inspection.

A time and date for the inspection will be agreed.  If the landlord intends to be represented at the appointment, the details (including the name and the telephone number) of that individual must be given to the Officer beforehand.

The landlord must notify the tenant beforehand and get permission to enter the property for inspection – the tenant should facilitate the inspection

What Happens After Inspection?

After an inspection, Housing authorities can issue Improvement Notices and Prohibition Notices to landlords who breach the minimum standards regulations.

An Improvement Notice sets out the works that the landlord must carry out to remedy a breach of the regulations.

If the landlord does not do these works, the housing authority may issue a Prohibition Notice, directing the landlord not to re-let the property until the breach of the regulations has been rectified.

Failure to comply with the minimum standards can result in penalties and prosecution. 

Landlords must also be aware of their safety responsibilities. The Housing Standards for Rented Accommodation regulations were recently updated, effective 1st May 2019. All rental properties must comply with the standards at the commencement of the tenancy and during the tenancy. Failure to comply with the minimum standards can result in penalties and prosecution.

For each unit let or available for letting, as a Landlord you must ensure that the rental property is in a proper state of structural repair.  You must maintain the property in a sound state, inside and out. Roofs, slates, windows, floors, ceilings, walls, stairs, doors, skirting boards, fascia’s, tiles on any floor, ceiling and wall, gutters, down pipes, fittings, gardens and common areas must be maintained in good condition and repair.

You must ensure that all gas, oil and electricity installations are maintained in good repair, and safe working order and that every room has adequate ventilation and both natural and artificial lighting.

Suitable safety restrictors must be fitted to windows through which a person could fall.

As a Landlord you must provide:

• A water closet with a dedicated wash hand basin with hot and cold water.
• A separate room, for the exclusive use of each rented unit, with a toilet, a washbasin and a fixed bath or shower with hot and cold water
• A fixed heating appliance in each room, which can provide effective heating and which the tenant can control. Where necessary, suitably located devices for the detection and alarm of carbon monoxide.
• Facilities for cooking and for the hygienic storage of food including, a 4-ring hob with oven and grill, fridge-freezer and microwave oven
• Access to a washing machine.
• Access to a clothes-dryer if the rented unit does not have a private garden or yard.
• A smoke alarm and fire blanket.
• Access to vermin-proof and pest-proof refuse storage facilities.
• In multi-unit buildings, you must provide each unit with a mains-wired smoke alarm; a fire blanket; and an emergency evacuation plan.
• There must also be emergency lighting in common areas.