The Government has been urged to give a greater role to the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) following the rental scam in Dublin in which tenants were conned out of up to €35,000. Some 15 couples lost €2,300 each when a conman advertised an apartment in the Sweepstakes in Ballsbridge on property website Daft.ie.
He gave each couple a lease and a set of keys and took the cash deposits, but when they arrived at the apartment the keys did not fit.
The couples have no way of getting a refund on their deposit.
The role of the board is to provide a dispute resolution service for landlords and tenants. It is also responsible for tenancy registration and since September 2004 all landlords must register new tenancies with the board.
But it does not currently hold deposits for tenants.
Labour deputy Éamon Gilmore said that deposits on rented residential properties should be payable to the board and not to individual landlords.
"Giving the PRTB a role in this would prevent problems like this from arising," he said.
"In addition it would eliminate problems that arise where unscrupulous landlords refuse to hand back deposits to tenants, sometimes on the most spurious of grounds.
"If there was a dispute over paying back a deposit, the PRTB would be in a position to make a definitive ruling."
He suggested that the deposit could be transferred to the board and a receipt could be issued and used as proof to a landlord that the deposit had been paid.
However, the board said that there are no current proposals to incorporate new functions into its role. "Since no legitimate tenancy covered by the Residential Tenancies Act, 2004, was entered into in this case, it would appear that this is solely a matter for an Garda Síochána," a spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Stephen Faughnan, chairman of the Irish Property Owners' Association, appealed to tenants to make sure that their landlords are members of the association or a licensing agent. He advised prospective tenants to ask their landlords for their current IPOA membership card, a utility bill or other form of confirmation of ownership for the property being rented.
