HARD-pressed renters face the risk of homelessness under new Government plans, it has been warned.
Under the proposals, rents in newly built properties will no longer be capped at two per cent annually but will instead be tied to the rate of inflation.
The plans to restructure Rent Pressure Zones will go to Cabinet tomorrow but they have led to fears tenants will face significant hikes and have increased concerns that renters may end up on the streets.
Under the plans, rents in newly built properties will no longer be capped at two per cent annually but will instead be tied to the rate of inflation.
The proposal, which Housing Minister James Browne will bring to the Cabinet, will likely state that there will be no changes for existing renters if they stay in their current tenancy.
However if they move, a landlord can reset the rent for the new tenant at the market rate.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin said the proposals are well balanced and they would give greater protections to renters and provide certainty for investors.
But Sinn Fein Housing spokesman Eoin O’Broin accused the Fianna Fail leader of gaslighting renters and deliberately “misleading the public”.
He said: “When the Taoiseach said that this was a balanced package to protect renters and encourage investment, he is deliberately misleading the public.
“He is gaslighting renters, and I’m not even sure he fully understands the extent which they’re putting huge numbers of people, young people, people approaching pension age, at enormous risk with even greater financial hardship, and in many cases, at risk of homeless.”
Mike Allen, the Director of Advocacy at Focus Ireland, also told how the proposals could place further financial burden and threaten homelessness on renters when rental subsidies are not increasing.
Allen said: “They seem to be creating a system which creates incentives for landlords to evict tenants so they can bring in something at higher market rates.
“And secondly, they’re increasing rents right across the board. What are they doing for low income people on HAP to make sure subsidies there don’t force people into deeper debt and eventually into homelessness?”
The Irish Property Owners Association said they were concerned that the Government’s proposed reforms are over-complicated.
And they stressed that the proposed six-year minimum security of tenure will have a serious negative impact on private, non-institutional landlords, and on the rental market.
‘CHANGES ARE UNFAIR’
Chairperson Mary Conway said: “The proposed changes are unfair on the individual who – for good reason – wishes to, and needs to, rent out their home for a short period and points to a flaw on the part of the Government thinking which – by going after institutional landlords – has ignored the implications for individual, private landlords.
“We believe that in seeking to address political concerns about the role of institutional landlords (who are predominantly active in the Dublin region), the Government may be punishing individual landlords, particularly the types of landlords who are the drivers of rental supply in provincial towns and rural areas outside of the large cities.”
