McDonald brands Govt's new policy on rents a 'shambles'

RTÉ News​

a day ago

The Government's new policy on rents has been branded a "shambles" by Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald.
The plans, announced by Minister for Housing James Browne after the plans were green-lit by the Cabinet, mean that Rent Pressure Zones are to be retained for existing tenancies with rents linked to inflation.
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Landlords are to be categorised under a new system of national rent control, with large landlords defined as people who own four properties or more.
Small landlords are those with three or fewer properties. The changes are due to come into effect from 1 March next year.
Ms McDonald accused Taoiseach Micheál Martin of spreading confusion about the changes.
"This is about making renters carry the can for your failures on housing," she said.
Mr Martin said this was a balanced set of measures to protect tenants and to dramatically increase the supply of housing.
He accused Sinn Féin of engaging in bluff and bluster and bingo-style, clichéd announcements.
Mr Martin said that Sinn Féin has no solutions to increase housing supply.
Meanwhile, Social Democrats TD Cian O'Callaghan said the Government will use tenants as "sacrificial lambs" in its planned "dystopian future for renters".
He also accused Mr Martin of delivering "contradictory messages", "sowing confusion" and making an "absolute shambles" of its housing policy.
The deputy noted that "new tenancies after March 2026 will be capped at CPI", but asked if there would be "a reset every six years".
He expressed confusion as to what the status of the reset is, given that Mr Martin had not mentioned it in an earlier response.
Deputy O'Callaghan accused the Minister for Housing James Browne, of gambling with renters' futures, and of having incentivised landlords to "jack up rents substantially".
"All existing tenants will not have their rents increased beyond 2%," Mr Martin said in response, and repeated the comment in his second response to the deputy.
"Will you please now listen," he said.
"After March 2026, rent on new-builds will be subject to a cap of the CPI," Mr Martin said.
Earlier, Ms McDonald said the reforms mean that rents will increase for everyone amid a serious cost of living crisis.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Ms McDonald said the great mystery is why the extension of the rent pressure zones is not happening immediately.
"Rents will increase for everybody at some stage, more immediately for some renters, in a more staggered way for others," she said.
She added: "I told the Taoiseach yesterday that we are willing to sit late and do what needs to be done in order to make sure this measure is implemented as soon as possible."
A lot of the details about the new measures remain unclear, she said, adding that there was a real "back of the envelope" to it.
"They couldn't give me an answer in respect of short-term renters and people on fixed-term leases, like I'm thinking of, for example, students, many of whom rent term to term, year to year."
Ms McDonald said the measures appeared to be, to her, a formula to "take the shackles off big funds who are already snapping up homes from under the noses of first-time buyers."
"This is a strategy and a formula for higher rents, for greater hardship, for greater insecurity, and it is not the way to go," she said.