Locations
On 7 January 2016, Minister Alan Kelly signed the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2015 (Commencement of Sections 30 and 42 and Part 4) Order 2016 which provides that the following amendments came into operation from 8 January 2016:Section 30 – ‘slip rule’ | This provision introduced a new section 64A into the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (as amended) which allows an adjudicator or Tribunal to overlook minor administrative errors on the face of a notice of terminati...
On 7 January 2016, Minister Alan Kelly signed the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2015 (Commencement of Sections 30 and 42 and Part 4) Order 2016 which provides that the following amendments came into operation from 8 January 2016:
- Section 30 – ‘slip rule’ | This provision introduced a new section 64A into the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (as amended) which allows an adjudicator or Tribunal to overlook minor administrative errors on the face of a notice of termination, once the error in question does not materially prejudice the notice itself which should otherwise be valid. The full extent of the application of this provision will only become clear in time, but it should mean that simple errors on a notice should not be fatal for its validity where a tenant’s rights or entitlements were clearly not prejudiced by it.
- Section 42 – free mediations | There is no longer a fee payable where the parties to a dispute opt for resolution by way of mediation. Section 93 of the 2004 Act has been amended with the insertion of a new subsection 2A to introduce this change and reflects the overall trend in recent years to promote alternative dispute resolution generally. This is clearly the headline provision among the current batch of amendments being commenced as can be seen by the press release of Minister Kelly which was published on 18 January 2016.
- Part 4 – Rent Tribunal | The Rent Tribunal, as established by the Housing (Private Rented Dwellings) (Amendment) Act 1983, has now been formally dissolved with its functions, rights and liabilities transferred to the Board of the PRTB. In reality, the Rent Tribunal had itself been administered through the PRTB for a number of years, with the relevant information available on the PRTB website pending the formal transfer of powers through this amending legislation.
These amendments join the provisions relating to rent reviews and notice periods which were commenced in early December as previously reported.