Labour has hit out at the Department for Housing over the delay in the deposit protection scheme aimed at protecting tenants and landlords.

Spokesperson on Housing Jan O'Sullivan confirmed the Department is still examining the legislative provisions, more than two years since the Residential Tenancies Act 2015 was passed.

She said: "It is not clear to me why this part of the law, which provides for the setting up of a deposit protection scheme and has been on the statute books since 2015, is still being examined by the Department of Housing more than two years on.

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"With the major shortage of affordable places to rent it is currently a landlord's market, and with no statutory limit on what a landlord can charge a tenant for a deposit, it is open to people being charged double a month's rent, which is simply unaffordable for most.

"This needs to be changed, and a ceiling is needed to ensure the maximum deposit charged is one month's rent.

"With over one in five of complaints made to the Residential Tenancies Board also relating to landlords not returning their deposits, having a deposit protection scheme in place would free up the RTB to attend to more complex disputes."

(CD/LM)