RTB is working on a new IT system to process disputes between landlords and tenants

The Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) is working on a new online portal, through which landlords and tenants should be able to apply and pay for dispute resolution, submit evidence, and see the progress of a case.

“We are aiming to launch a full pilot version for testing by key stakeholder groups by June 2025,” said a spokesperson for the RTB on Monday.

“We expect the platform will be available to all RTB customers by Q4 2025,” they said.

Setting up a smoother way to manage rental dispute applications – of which there were more than 9,500 last year – has been on the RTB’s to-do list for years.

But previous statements suggest the idea had been to integrate this into its multi-million-euro RTB360 system, which the rental regulator began work on in 2017 and started to roll out from late 2021.

Very soon after that, in January 2022, minutes of an RTB board meeting suggested that disputes functionality could be live on the RTB360 system within 12 months.

By then, the RTB360 system had cost about €7 million, more than double the original estimate, Niall Byrne, the RTB’s director at the time, wrote  to the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee.

For context, the RTB’s budget for 2023 was about €29 million.

An RTB spokesperson didn’t directly address why it has moved away from the idea of integrating all its services onto the RTB360 system.

They also didn’t answer a question about the learnings it has made from the difficulties that the RTB has had in modernising and setting up its IT systems.

After the launch of the first phase of the RTB360 system, the RTB commissioned consultants from Mazars to look at how the project had gone up to then and make recommendations.

Mazars gave its report in January 2023, but the RTB has never made it public.

The RTB has refused to release it under the Freedom of Information Act as, it says, to do so would be “prejudicial to the effectiveness of an ongoing audit”. An appeal of the RTB’s refusal is currently with the Office of the Information Commissioner.

An IT headache

In April 2022, Byrne – then the RTB director – gave an outline to the Public Accounts Committee as to why the costs of the RTB360 system had rocketed.

It was down to an evolving RTB mandate, issues with system development and an extended timeline, the impact of Covid-19, extra security work, and the complexities of replacing a legacy system, he said.

He said that the €7 million spent up until then didn’t include all the initial planned functionality but it did include changes that were needed as rental laws were updated, and the security reviews.

Also, “the new system is the core building block for the next stages in the RTB’s digital roadmap and it is expected to support roll out of additional functionality and features as the RTB mandate continues to expand”, he said.

That first phase roll-out at the end of 2021 had been subject to significant bugs. As were later phases, such as in April 2022, when the RTB rolled out the function allowing landlords to register annually.

The costs and hitches associated with the RTB360 system had knock-on impacts on the RTB’s regulatory work.

In January 2021, RTB official Bryan Kelly presented a draft profit and loss paper for the coming year to the board.

It included a change to the capital line with “a very high-level estimate of RTB360 costs”, the minutes say. “This adjustment was balanced by reductions in other expense budget lines.”

The RTB also had paused the late fines that were usually levied on landlords for failing to register tenancies by a deadline, given technical issues that many landlords were finding with the portal when trying to register.

The RTB also paused any enforcement activities relating to tenancies not being registered because of issues with the registration system, show board meeting minutes from September 2023.

Pat Davitt, the outgoing chief executive of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers, which represents auctioneers and estate agents, says his understanding was that the plan was to move the disputes process onto RTB360 also.

At the moment, some landlords and agents do still find the RTB360 system difficult to navigate to register tenancies, said Davitt, who was on a working group with the RTB to help troubleshoot issues with the RTB360 platform.

But that is probably down to a mix of issues – some on the agents’ and landlords’ end and others down to the RTB, he says. “I think with new technology it is always a problem.”

The RTB deals quickly with any issues he raises with them, he says.

Amelia Melanson – a member of the Community Action Tenants Union (CATU) who recently helped renters facing eviction from the Tramco building in Rathmines – said that they hadn’t found it that hard to navigate the RTB dispute process.

At first, they had sent in evidence by mail in hard copy, but they ended up having to submit it virtually, she said. “I actually don’t know why that was the case.”

They have just emailed in evidence since, she says. “So it hasn’t been too difficult that way.”

A question that other CATU members have raised, she says, is whether the new portal will help make it easier for people who don’t have great English to file and follow disputes, or those who struggle with literacy or technology.

Maybe CATU is unaware of routes for these people to access disputes, she says. “Not by email or virtually. What are the in-person supports? Or the English-as-a-second-language supports?”

People may get a translator in hearings but if the paperwork is all in English, that is still a major barrier, she says

A spokesperson for the RTB said its new disputes portal will be built on the ServiceNow platform.

“The RTB has chosen to configure the ServiceNow platform that is trusted and widely used by Fortune 500 companies rather than to develop a fully bespoke product,” they said.

“We believe this will enable us to deliver the most cost-effective IT solution and the highest quality experience for RTB customers,” said the spokesperson.

“The platform implementation will be delivered within the RTB’s existing budget allocation for 2025,” they said.