One landlord who owns 138 properties took in almost €1.4m in housing payments in 2021

One landlord owning 138 properties in Meath received €1,398,141 under the Government Housing Assistance Payments Scheme last year, according to information supplied to a Meath County councillor.

Independent Cllr Trevor Golden had asked the council to provide data, redacted as appropriate, detailing the top 10 HAP payments by cost. He asked that the date include units provided, number of applicants housed and total cost for the year. He asked for information for the years 2018 to 2021 inclusive. The person who received the €1.3 million last year was known as ‘Recipient 13’ in the reply.

The names of landlords and letting agents who received payments under the scheme were held back for privacy reasons in an answer to the question tabled by the councillor.

Council officials told Cllr Golden that HAP payments are managed on behalf of the local authority sector by the HAP Shared Services Centre in Limerick.

They said that the figures given to Cllr Golden might include a letting agent representing several landlords.

The second highest payments in 2021 went to a person with 64 properties and the total was €686,501. Payments to other landlords/agents ranged from €328,409 to €166,820. The total paid out under HAP in 2021 was €3,902,742.

In 2018, ‘Recipient 13’ with 104 properties was paid €835,162 while the second highest payments went to ‘Recipient 8’ with 68 properties, paid €644,619. The total paid out for 2918 was €2,743,710.

In 2019, ‘Recipient 13’ with 126 properties in that year was paid €1,209,297 while ‘Recipient 8’ with 68 properties was paid €798,589 while other payments below that ranged from €274,301 to €117,674. The total paid out in 2019 was €3,555,368.

In 2020, ‘Recipient 13’ with 134 properties in that year was paid €1,381,920 and ‘Recipient 8’ with 71 properties was paid €772,113. The total paid out in 2020 was €3,907,646.