Sweeping RPZ changes could be a 'timebomb' with tens of thousands of tenants facing eviction
The Government has been warned that sweeping changes to the rent pressure zone (RPZ) system could create a 'timebomb' with tens of thousands facing evictions unless specific protections are put in place.
Housing minister James Browne will bring his proposals for an overhaul of the RPZ system to a meeting of coalition leaders on Monday night and a memo to Cabinet on Tuesday.
The moves are part of an overall plan to attract international investment and kickstart the building of apartments, as well as overhaul the RPZ system, which was introduced in 2016 and sharply criticised by last year's report by the Housing Commission.
The proposals include:
The 2% cap in RPZs will remain in place for existing tenancies but new tenancies will be more closely linked to the base rate of inflation;
Landlords will be able to change or reset rents between tenancies, a change from the current system which designates whether or not a home is in a rent pressure zone.
It is understood that Mr Browne also wants improved rental protections to prevent the likelihood of a landlord seeking to move people on or evict tenants.
In an unexpected move, the minister will also seek to legislate for minimum six-year terms for some renters. The landlord would be allowed reset the rent every six years to the current market rate.
It is also understood that there will be a tightening of the rules regarding ending tenancies to make way for a landlord's family member.
'Incentive to evict and reset rents'
Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said the plans would create a four-tier rental system and were 'utter madness'.
He said if there are no specific protections for those who are in Part IV tenancies since before 2022, there will be a 'timebomb' of potential evictions because those tenancies do not fall under reforms to the law which preclude no-fault evictions.
This would mean 'tens of thousands' of landlords would have an incentive to end tenancies, according to Mr Ó Broin.
If those Part IV tenancies come to an end, then there is a huge incentive for landlords — not all landlords, but there are thousands of leases here — to legally evict tenants and reset to market rents.
A Part 4 tenancy refers to a period of security of tenure for tenants under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004. It essentially means that after a tenant has resided in a property for six months and hasn't received a valid notice of termination, they have the right to stay in the dwelling for a specified period, typically six years, unless a valid reason for termination exists.
While Mr Browne's proposals on security of tenure will require legislation, it is unclear if this could be retroactive to take in existing pre-2022 tenancies.
RPZ system 'helped to moderate rent increases'
While the latest proposals are seen as a key measure to get apartment building and finance moving through certainty in the market, particularly in Dublin, John Mark McCafferty of housing charity Threshold said that, without the 2% cap, some renters could be pushed into homelessness.
'Despite its flaws, the RPZs, as they're currently constituted, helped to moderate rent increases and without it, tenants would likely face substantial rent increases in certain scenarios that may or may not be planned by government,' he told RTÉ radio. Mr McCafferty added:
If there is a real dilution of those rental protections, that would push more renters into financial distress and, arguably, homelessness.
Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne said the move to lift caps was ''a cruel decision by a government captured by vulture fund landlords'.
Mr Browne and the Government are under pressure to address the housing crisis in the short term, following a number of issues in the first half of the year.
On top of the botched appointment of a housing tsar, recent analysis shows that active housing commencements, dropped to a four-year low of 3,126 in the first quarter of this year.
And the Central Bank recently told an Oireachtas committee that completions will hit around 35,000 this year, far below what is needed.
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