Rental property inspections increase in Cork city but failure rates still over 50%

MORE than half of all private rental properties inspected by or on behalf of Cork City Council in the first three quarters of 2023 were found to be non-compliant with regulations.

Of the 10,552 inspections carried out on behalf of the council in the first nine months of 2023, 8,120 dwellings were visited, with 4,234 — 52% — failing on the first inspection.

That is a significant improvement on the 12 months of 2022, when some 4,423 dwellings, out of 5,946 inspected, failed on first inspection, representing a 74% failure rate, which itself paled in comparison to figures from 2021, where 755 dwellings out of 819 failed, or 92%.

Cork City Council said the most common reasons for failure in 2022 were fire safety, structural condition, failure to comply with regulations relating to gas, oil and electricity, heating facilities, and ventilation.

The previous year, the council said the most common reasons for failure were inadequate ventilation, and a lack of smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms, evacuation plans, and window restrictors.

At the end of 2021, citing recruitment challenges in filling vacancies to its Private Rental Inspection (PRI) team, Cork City Council engaged an external service provider — Thornton Group / Niall Keely and Associates — to carry out inspections of properties on its behalf.

That led to a dramatic increase in inspections of private rental properties in 2022, going from 837 inspections of private rental properties in 2021 to 8,047 inspections in 2023, representing an 861.4% increase.

In turn, the figure of 10,552 inspections in the first nine months of 2023 represents a 31% increase on the whole of 2022’s figures.

In 2020, the PRI team carried out 479 inspections, visiting 415 dwellings.

Rates of inspections carried out in 2020 and 2021 were affected by the various lockdowns due to the covid-19 pandemic, but prior to covid, the PRI carried out 739 inspections at 617 dwellings in 2018, and 1,042 inspections at 862 dwellings in 2019.

The figure of 10,552 inspections in the first nine months of 2023 marks an increase of 1,328% on the whole of 2018 figures, and an increase of 913% on those for 2019.

Asked how much has been paid to Thornton Group / Niall Keely and Associates for its work in inspecting private rental properties on behalf of Cork City Council’s PRI, a council spokesperson said that information could not be disclosed for reasons of commercial sensitivity.

FAILURES STILL 'TOO HIGH'

Commenting on the figures, Sinn Féin Cork city councillor Mick Nugent said the increase in inspections was to be welcomed, but said it was regrettable that over half of all properties inspected had failed on the first inspection.

“That figure is still a lot higher than it should be, and I do have quite a few constituents who say it can take quite a while for such problems to be rectified,” Cllr Nugent said.

“HAP (Housing Assistance Payment) is considered by the Government as a social housing option, which I think stretches it, to be honest, but some people are caught in a HAP trap, so the least they should expect is that the landlord or landlords, who are paid by the city council, would keep the property to a good standard.”

Fianna Fáil councillor Seán Martin said the figures showed the effects of the increased allocation of resources by Cork City Council toward its PRI unit.

“I think it’s very clear that the investment we have made in of inspections is showing a clear return,” Cllr Martin said.

He added that Niall Ó Donnabháin, director of services in the city council’s housing directorate, had recently presented a most impressive report to the council’s housing committee and the work of the PRI had featured in that report.

“The failure rate, the number of properties failing on the first inspection, is very high, yes, but that’s a sign that Cork City Council is taking its responsibilities seriously and that we expect rental properties to adhere to a high standard,” he said.

Housing campaigner William O’Brien, who is running as an independent candidate in next summer’s local elections and who was instrumental this year in highlighting appalling living conditions in social housing in Noonan’s Road, St Finbarr’s Road, Fort Street, and Dean Street, said he had asked Cork City Council about oversight of conditions in social housing in the city.

“Earlier this year, I made with Cork City Council Housing Department and I mentioned that I was aware of the Cork city PRI unit and I posed the question: ‘Where is Cork City Council’s public inspections unit to inspect any of the 11,000 local authority properties?’,” Mr O’Brien said. 

“The response was: ‘There has never been a housing inspection unit specifically implemented to carry out planned housing inspections for local authority properties in Cork’.”

He added that there was an irony in Cork City Council having oversight of private rental accommodation in the city.

“There are social housing tenants being left in substandard social housing by Cork City Council. If a private landlord was treating their tenants with such disrespect, the council would close them down,” he said.

TARGETS

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage set Cork City Council a 2022 target to inspect 25% of all rental properties in its istrative area.

Responding to a query from The Echo this month, a spokesperson for Cork City Council said: “Between HAP, RAS (Rental Accommodation Scheme), RTB (Residential Tenancies Board) and student-specific accommodation we have approximately 24,000 properties.”

If that figure was operative in 2022, then the council’s PRI unit (or its private sector agents) would have had to inspect in the region of 6,000 properties. Some 5,946 private rental properties were inspected in the city last year.

The same target of 25% applied to 2023, and with 8,120 inspected in the first nine months of the year, the city council has already, presumably, met its target.

In 2018, the council was given a target of 1,764 inspections, and in 2019, it was given a target of 2,613. In 2018, the PRI team carried out 739 inspections, missing its target by 1,025. In 2019, 1,042 inspections were carried out, missing that year’s target by 1,571.

In 2020 and 2021, targets were suspended due to the covid-19 pandemic.

The full 2023 figures for inspection of private rental properties by or on behalf of the council are due this month.

Cork City Council was asked for a comment.