Environmental Health Dept - Random check

Representative from Envir Health Dept has been in touch with my agent, saying that our rental property has been randomly selected for a check.

Have never heard of this occuring, agent didn't seem too fazed, anybody know if these things are random or if the tenant has called them.

What kind of rental property is it?

Is it a premises for the preparation and sale of food?

I think they may do spot checks to make sure you have your microbes are under control...

Its just a 3 bed semi.

Shouldn't be a problem, they are looking for litter and rubbish around and if you have bins.

They visited my street a couple of weeks ago, checking if people had bins and the dates they were paid up to, etc.

If your property has been registered with the PRTB by your landlord as required by the Residential Tenancies Act, the details will have been passed to the local authority's Environmental Health Department. They carry out inspections of privately rented dwellings to ensure that they comply with the Housing Standards for Rented Houses Regulations of 2008.

http://www.environ.ie/en/DevelopmentandHousing/Housing/PrivateRentedHousing/

I have encountered this with one of the properties that I look after.

They want to see that the property is habitable and in reasonable condition.

The following are the main things that they were looking for in the property (house let as a single unit)

- 10 year fire alarms. They wanted two.
- vents in all the bedrooms.
- if bin collection is by bag that there is a store for the bags til they are put out.
- fire blanket in the kitchen.
- all rooms were checked for damp.

If there are items to be fixed, they will give you time to fix them. I found the inspector reasonable and was allowed a time extension because roof needed fixing and weather was bad.

Hope this helps.