Loophole on evicting long-term tenants to be closed 

Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien. It is understood Mr O'Brien will provide security of tenure through legislating for tenancies of indefinite duration.

Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien is to close a loophole that allows landlords evict long-term tenants without providing a reason.

Tenants currently face a protection cliff-edge after six years, which the minister is planning to address as part of the Government's Housing for All plan, due to be published next week.

Once a person has been in a property for more than six months, landlords can only evict them with certain grounds, for example if they wish to sell the property, they want to significantly refurbish it, or they need the property for family use.

However, a loophole means that once a Part 4 tenancy, which allows people stay in a property securely for up to six years, expires, the landlord can terminate that tenancy without providing any reason.

It is understood Mr O'Brien will move to address this by providing security of tenure through legislating for tenancies of indefinite duration.

The Housing for All plan which will be funded to the tune of €12bn a year will target the delivery of 33,000 houses a year by 2025.

The plan, due to be announced on July 27, will look at everything from incentivising elderly people to downsize, removing height caps in cities, and bringing 90,000 vacant units..

It will also see the constitutional right to property questioned as well as new compulsory powers for local authorities to buy land for housing.

“Everything is on the table. This is no longer just a money issue. This is complex and there is a concerted effort to finally get to grips with this,” a senior government source recently told the Irish Examiner.

It is understood that the plan will also promise to phase out all new leases for social housing over the lifetime of the Government.

Local authorities will be encouraged to target vacant properties through compulsory purchase orders as a way of increasing social housing.

Separately an extra €1.1bn has been set aside as part of next year's Budget to spend on capital projects. It is expected that a considerable chunk of this will be allocated to Mr O'Brien's department.

This ties in with the Housing for All plan to move away from using Housing Assistance Payment (Hap)) as a way of providing social housing and instead focusing on more direct builds.