The ever-bureaucratic Private Residential Tenancies Board will shortly be able to impose yet another form of fine on property investors.

The board recently increased its registration fee from €80 to €90 and its late-payment fee to an exorbitant €180.

The PRTB has been heavily criticised in the past for the lengthy delays in resolving tenant-landlord disputes.

Many of these rows revolve around landlords retaining tenants’ deposits because they maintain that there had been damage beyond wear and tear in a rented property. For a while there was the scary prospect that the board would be given the responsibility of holding deposits once a tenant moved into the rental accommodation. Now it seems that the new Minister for Housing and Planning Willie Penrose is not to ask the board to take responsibility for the deposits. Instead, it looks like the PRTB will be empowered to impose even heavier fines on landlords who are found to have retained deposits without good reason.

This must be commended given that there are still a few shady landlords around. However it is common knowledge that the Revenue Commissioners have ready access to the PRTB records to ensure that landlords pay their lawful taxes. With the Government under increasing pressure to reduce the cost of public services, perhaps it should look at the option of handing over the functions of the PRTB to the Revenue and get rid of this unpopular quango.