Dublin family's rent 'rose from €950 to €1,150 in just a year’

Housing and homeless charities have cautiously welcomed new measures to ease the rental crisis but called on the Government to go further and link rents to the consumer price index.

This was echoed by one family who have seen their rent jump in recent months and are now looking at moving away from relatives and friends in Dublin to find a more affordable home.

The measures, announced by Environment Minister Alan Kelly and Finance Minister Michael Noonan, include limiting rent increases to every two years instead of annual reviews, and introducing a tax incentive for landlords to take people on rent supplement payments.

There will also be an extended notice period for rent increases and a requirement, on the part of the landlord, to justify the rent increases.

Landlords who wish to end a tenancy due to an intended sale of a property will now be asked to provide clear proof of this intention, a measure which was welcomed by housing body Threshold, which said it would significantly improve the position of vulnerable tenants.

But renter Oisin Convery, said the measures do not provide enough help or certainty to those struggling find a place to let.

Mr Convery who lives with his wife Tiffany Hanson and their 11-month-old daughter Hannah, saw their rent jump from €950 to €1,150 in just a year.

He said enhanced rent certainty is needed and not just a two-year freeze. He said rent allowance needs to be linked to the actual cost of letting a home.

The family had been living in Dublin’s Portobello, close to the city centre, but were forced to move further out to Clondalkin and are now planning a move out of the city entirely. “We want to move to Cavan or somewhere like that because we cannot afford to live in Dublin,” he said.

Fianna Fáil’s housing spokesman Barry Cowan said he was surprised that there were no measures in the plan to increase rent allowance which would help families like Mr Convery’s.

“A constituent who came to me yesterday who could not afford the rent before this, still cannot afford the rent now,” he said.

Environment Minister Alan Kelly said the measures would provide “certainty to renters”.

But Simon Communities in Ireland were disappointed that rent certainty measures were diluted. Niamh Randall, national spokesperson for the Simon Communities in Ireland, said: “Without linking rents in the private sector to an index like consumer price index there is still nothing stop rents continuing to increase especially when the number of properties available to rent is at an all-time low.”

Senator Aideen Hayden, chairperson of Threshold, said: “We strongly believe that there can be no return to ‘business as usual’ when it comes to meeting the needs of the increasing number of people relying on the rented sector.”

She called on the Government to build on the emergency measures, stating that future measures for the period beyond the two-year rent freeze must include measures to link rent increases to the consumer price index.

Pat Doyle, CEO of Peter McVerry Trust, urged the Government to bring legislation before the Oireachtas within days to ensure that these measures take effect immediately.