The role of the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) is being expanded, it was announced today.

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

Hundreds of tenants face losing their homes after receivers moved to sell apartments at a residential development in Cork City.

An architect whose family were effectively evicted from their rented home after five years has called for improved legislation to give tenants greater long-term security.

Two landlords have received criminal convictions and more than €7,000 in fines for failing to register their rental properties.

Disputes lodged against landlords over rents more than doubled in the period leading up to the coalition’s rent control proposals while there was also a spike in calls to a helpline for tenants.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny should declare a national emergency on rent and housing, a leading homeless campaigner has said.

If the Government proceeds with further regulation of the housing market, already under pressure landlords will be squeezed out of the market, thereby reducing available accommodation and causing further homelessness.

There were at least 4,089 complaints regarding alleged antisocial behaviour (ASB) in 21 local authority areas last year — and the number of difficult tenants removed from their homes could rise this year as councils enact new powers.

Rents are almost back to their mid-2000s high in some parts of the country, with renters under growing pressure to meet boom-time costs on recession-era incomes.

Eight tenants of council houses in Cork City have either been evicted or voluntarily left their properties this year after being found to be involved in persistent antisocial behaviour.

Only one in eight properties are available to rent within Rent Supplement and Housing Assistance Payment limits, a study shows.

At a meeting in Wynne’s Hotel this week, 300 Irish Property Owners’ Association (IPOA) members vented their fury at the proposed introduction of rent control/certainty by the Government.

The Simon Community says urgent action is needed from the Government to prevent people from becoming homeless.

The couple pleading for a house after they were asked to leave emergency hotel accommodation yesterday were ordered out of a private rented house four years ago for failing to pay rent.

Rents in the private sector rose by 5.8% nationwide in 2014, with rent for houses up 4.8% and apartment rents up 6.4%, as with the last three months of 2013.

An application for re-possession, to remove the businesswoman Jackie Lavin from a luxury Italianate mansion, formerly owned by her partner Bill Cullen, in the heart of the Killarney National Park has been adjourned — for the fifth time.

A woman told a court yesterday her landlord unlawfully entered her home and threw out personal items, including an urn containing the ashes of her late husband.

Tenants’ rights concerning rent increases and long-term letting are to be promoted in an ad campaign

Average rents across Cork city and county have increased by 2.3% in the last three months.

The Private Residential Tenancies Board has today secured a temporary injunction to allow a family re-enter their Dublin apartment - after the locks were changed without notice.

One in five people are spending more than 40% of their net income on rent.

Rent arrears key issue as board receives 2,861 resolution requests

Two charities have rejected the findings of a report on the rented housing sector that claims rent control regulations would not address rising costs for tenants.

Any young family or individual trying to keep pace with relentlessly climbing rents, any pensioner on the verge of losing their home of many years because rents are being increased far, far faster than their income will have been dismayed by yesterday’s report on the rental sector. It offered them little or no comfort much less security.

A new report is warning against the introduction of rent controls as a means of addressing problems in the private rental sector.

A report on rent stability in the private sector has warned that the introduction of rent regulations in Ireland would reduce supply in the market, increase black market activity, and have a negative impact on the very people the measures would attempt to assist.

More than one-third of all disputes lodged with the country’s private rental watchdog are due to rent arrears.

Dublin rents have surged on average 10.5% over the 12 months to the end of June whereas increases in the rest of the country have been much more subdued at 2.6% over the same period, although overall rents are well below their 2007 peak.

The Private Residential Tenancies Board has secured two criminal convictions against a Landlord who failed to register his tenancies.

The receivers for Glencullen Properties Ltd, the company formerly owned by Bill Cullen, have begun court proceedings to remove Mr Cullen’s partner, the celebrity businesswoman Jackie Lavin, from Killegy House, a magnificent Italianate-style house with landscaped gardens and tennis court overlooking the lakes of Killarney, built by Mr Cullen.

The cost of renting across the country rose by 3.5% over the past year, but tenants are still paying 23% less than they were at the height of the boom in 2007.

Rent controls and use of vacant housing stock — including refitted hotels — should be considered to ease the looming homelessness crisis, experts have claimed.

The Private Residential Tenancies Board secured almost 200 court orders last year against rogue landlords or tenants who ignored its determinations.

A landlord who has failed to pay a landmark €30,000 fine for allowing his tenants subject neighbours to a litany of antisocial behaviour is facing legal action.

Landlords could face fines for failing to safeguard windows under a review of regulations after it emerged that inspectors are powerless to insist landlords install safety catches.

As we approach the end of another year, it is possible to conclude that some progress was made over the past 12 months.

Average rents in Dublin are on the increase, according to a new report.