Govt expected to approve rent legislation this week

RTÉ News​

9 hours ago

It is expected that emergency legislation to extend rent controls nationwide will be approved by Cabinet this week and will then be debated in the Dáil.
Currently, Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) cover around 83% of the country.
There had been fears that those outside rent controls could face rent hikes ahead of broader reforms of the sector coming into force from March next year.
The Government indicated that emergency legislation would be brought forward ahead of the summer recess to address the problem.
However, the opposition had pounced on the fact that the proposed law was not listed on the Dáil schedule for the coming week.
It is now understood that the emergency legislation will go to the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Once approved by the Government, it will be added to the Dáil order paper to be debated this week and passed quickly.
Sinn Féin has accused the Government of scrambling around to produce legislation.
Government's rent plan 'not botched' - Byrne
The Government's rent reform plan is "not botched", Minister of State Thomas Byrne has said, adding that legislation to extend RPZs will be introduced "very quickly".
However, Mr Byrne added: "The vast majority of tenancies around the country and certainly in high-pressure areas are already under Rent Pressure Zones and they're not going to be affected."
Speaking on RTÉ's The Week in Politics, he added that for such individuals, the RPZ "basically continues indefinitely while they're in the tenancy".
"There's no point worrying," he said and added "the vast majority of people don't have to worry".
Mr Byrne said there is a need to ensure that private sector investment in conjunction with State investment "has a path forward".
Speaking on the same programme, Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore said "rents are going to go up" for the 20% of people renting outside of RPZ areas.
"There's a risk that they'll be put out of their tenancies and their rents could go up," she said.
"We need this legislation very, very quickly," she added.
Sinn Féin TD Conor McGuinness told The Week in Politics the Government's policy has "changed every day over the last six (days)".
"We have an absolute shambles here," he said, adding the plan has been marked by "confusion, U-turns, backtracking".
He also noted that the legislation was to be brought forward next week, adding "we don't even know if that's the case".