Agenda item

            The Committee considered a draft response to a Department for Communities consultation exercise entitled, The Private Tenancies (Notice to Quit) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025. The consultation sought views on a range of proposed new regulations for ‘Notice to Quit’ periods within the private rented sector, with the proposals suggesting extended notice periods of up to seven months for longer-term tenants, alongside shorter, exception-based notices of two to four weeks for anti-social behaviour or rent arrears.

The Committee adopted the draft response and agreed that it be amended to highlight the following points:

1.    That the timescales associated with ‘notices to quit’ would place a disproportionate burden on tenants, and not landlords. Such ‘notices to quit’ would affect particularly those tenants who were victims of domestic violence, those suffering from serious and debilitating health conditions and those required to find alternative housing arrangements through no fault of their own;

2.    that the proposed timescales, if included within the regulations, would not take account of the prolonged timescales associated with legal processes and could increase cases of homelessness. Any revised regulations should be drafted within the context of the overall obligations as set out under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act (1998); and

3.    that clarity be sought from DfC as to the proposed actual role of the Council in enforcing any revised regulations and how any additional Council staffing resources and administrative support, if required, would be funded by DfC.