Mayo County Council can and will terminate the contracts of landlords with whom they have entered into agreements under the Rental Accommodation Scheme, if the landlords fail to live up to their obligations to stop their tenants from engaging in antisocial behaviour.
This was announced at the August meeting of Castlebar Joint Policing Committee after the issue of antisocial behaviour by certain people in estates in Castlebar, and those responsible for the letting the houses to the people causing the disturbance, was raised at a previous meeting of the committee.
Responding to invitations, both Gabriel Irwin, Superintendent Community Welfare Officer with the HSE, and Ms Patsy McNulty from the housing section of Mayo County Council attended the August meeting to answer a number of questions from the committee. Queries were raised regarding the vetting of tenants prior to accommodation being allocated by the HSE and the council under the Rental Accommodation Scheme and whether tenants who continue to engage in antisocial behaviour could have their agreements terminated.
Mr Irwin told the meeting that the HSE had no part to play in vetting people to see did they have a history of antisocial behaviour or whether they had caused problems before in other places. “We are a payment agency, the tenants are private tenants with an agreement with the landlord. It’s a social welfare benefit, if they qualify for the benefit we have to approve it. There is no way we can stop it bar a court order from a judge, but I can’t see that happening.”
However Ms McNulty stated that they do carry out Garda vetting on the applicants but also they have to approve people if they qualify for the scheme. She added that the council can break the tenancy if needed and revealed it has in fact broken five tenant agreements so far, one in Westport and two in both Castlebar and Ballina.
Cllr Ger Deere said that most of the problems lay in the fact that the landlords do not care what their tenants are doing because they are guaranteed an income. Ms McNulty stated that landlords have to live up to their obligations in relation to the tenant and the contract they have signed with the council and if they failed to do so the council would terminate the contract.
Superintendent Willie Keaveney added that Gardai had issued about 20 antisocial behaviour orders in Castlebar over the last two months. The big problem the Gardai have in prosecuting antisocial behaviour is that people have to make a complaint and then give evidence in court, which some are afraid to do, he said.
