Renegotiate rent or move, department tells tenants

Tenants in receipt of rent supplement are being told they must negotiate a better deal with their landlords — or find a new place to live.

The order has come from the Department of Social Protection, which is giving people eight weeks to locate to a new home if negotiation with landlords does not work.

In the last budget, rent supplement, paid to people living in private rented accommodation who cannot provide for the cost themselves, was reduced by 13% on average.