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 raise rents between tenancies and the rent pressure zones cap of two per cent will be lifted for newly built apartments.
Irish renters are set to brace for price hikes amid a major rent cap shake up[/caption]
Changes to the Rent Pressure Zones will be brought to Housing minister James Browne[/caption]
Rents for newly-built properties will no longer be capped at two per cent annually but will instead be tied to the rate of inflation under plans set to be considered by Cabinet next week.
Changes to the Rent Pressure Zones will be brought to Government by Minister for Housing James Browne on Tuesday.
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 the Government in the coming weeks and months.
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.
Housing minister James Browne will bring his proposals for an overhaul of the RPZ system to a meeting of coalition leaders tomorrow night and is expected to bring a memo to cabinet on Tuesday,
But last night Sinn Fein branded the proposals “utter madness”.
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 Social Democrats housing spokesperson Rory Hearne claimed the move will lead to increased evictions and homelessness.
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, Fine Gael TD Deputy Michael Carrigy, said that keeping rent pressure zones was a key part of his party’s manifesto.
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.”
Sinn Fein housing spokesperson Eoin O’Broin branded the proposal ‘utter madness’[/caption]
