‘Cruel decision' blast over new rent cap shake-up as Irish renters brace for price hikes amid calls for more homes
OPPOSITION parties have blasted the government's rent shake up - with the Cabinet set to vote in an easing of controls this week.
Landlords will be able to
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Irish renters are set to brace for price hikes amid a major rent cap shake up
Credit: Getty Images - Getty
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Changes to the Rent Pressure Zones will be brought to Housing minister James Browne
Credit: Brian Lawless/PA Wire
Rents for newly-built
Changes to the Rent Pressure Zones will be brought to Government by Minister for Housing
Government sources said the move is aimed at giving investors certainty given they currently can make a loss when inflation goes above the two per cent mark.
Other measures to close the 'yield' gap and around 'viability' will be taken by
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For existing renters, nothing changes 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.
Any rent increases after that would be capped at the existing two per cent rate.
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But last night
Chaos in Dail as numerous TDs storm from Chamber amid new speaking time rules
The party's housing spokesperson Eoin O'Broin said: 'Cabinet looks set to agree far-reaching and deeply damaging changes to the current Rent Pressure Zone rules.
'The government's plans for a four-tier rental market is utter madness.
'There will now be four different rent-setting rules and eviction rules for tenants; in RPZs and in existing tenancies; in RPZs and in new tenancies in existing rental stock; in RPZs and in new tenancies in newly built rental stock; and renters in tenancies outside RPZs.
Any decision the Government takes in relation to RPZs in coming days cannot pull the rug from under renters."
Fine Gael TD Deputy Michael Carrigy
'Renters are being punished for the government's own housing failures with even higher rip-off rents and greater uncertainty.
'If these landlords are given the right to resent rents to new market levels, this puts tens of thousands of renters with pre 2022 tenancy agreements at risk of eviction.
'At a time when rents… are already too high, the government's proposals will come as another body-blow to hard-pressed renters.'
EVICTION INCREASE FEARS
And
He fumed: 'Lifting the 2 per cent rent cap is a cruel decision by a government captured by investor fund landlords.
'There is no guarantee removing these rent caps will lead to an increase in supply of rental properties.
'In fact, it will encourage the investor purchase of new build homes as rental properties – further pushing up house prices and locking home buyers out of the housing market.
'Without a no-fault eviction ban in place, lifting the 2 per cent rent cap will lead to increased evictions and homelessness as landlords evict tenants to get a new tenancy and bring the rent up to market rents.'
RENT ALREADY HIGH
Meanwhile, Chair of the Oireachtas Housing Committee,
He explained: 'Any decision the Government takes in relation to RPZs in coming days cannot pull the rug from under renters.
'There can't be just some sort of cliff edge or some switch that just gets flicked in terms of supports and safeguards for renters.
'The level of rent people are paying in this country is extraordinarily high already and that is largely down to a lack of supply which must change.
'We have to ensure we have a viable housing market.
"Our clear goal is to increase the supply of new homes.'
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Sinn Fein housing spokesperson Eoin O'Broin branded the proposal 'utter madness'
Credit: PA
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But given that for many landlords, the gap between what they're charging and what they could get will be very great, that's a very, very significant incentive.' The TD said the proposals will also lead to 'huge increase for renters as they move from rental property to another'. 'This is far worse than I was expecting from government, and I think the big losers here are renters across a range of categories, who are going to face greater levels of rent at a time when rents are already too high, but also greater levels of eviction, particularly those in existing tenancies that were created before 2022.' While the plans may aim to bring new institutional investment into the private rental sector, Mr Ó Broin said it was more likely that the measures would be 'punishing renters for very little return in terms of additional stock and the additional stock they get will be exceptionally expensive'. 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