4,700 notices of termination issued to tenants in months leading up to eviction ban

The figures show that 2,845 of those were because of a decision by the landlord to sell the property. File picture

Landlords had issued over 4,700 notices of termination to tenants in the months leading up to the eviction ban being announced, new figures show.

Figures released on Friday by the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) for the third quarter of 2022, show that 4,741 notices were issued in the three-month period.

The figures show that 2,845 of those were because of a decision by the landlord to sell the property. A further 794 cases were where a landlord intended to move a family member into the home and 738 were because of a breach of tenant obligations.

Another 136 cases were terminated before a Part 4 tenancy, one of indefinite duration, began. Eighty-five homes were being renovated and 44 were no longer fit for habitation, 25 landlords were changing the use of the building and 74 did not give a reason.

Of those, 1,839 or 38%, were served in Dublin, with 500 in Cork.

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The RTB's information sheet on the notices says: "It is important to note, the number of Notices of Termination (NoT) received should not be interpreted as directly correlating to one landlord/tenant/tenancy. For example, one NoT could be received which relates to multiple tenants in one tenancy or separate NoTs could be received for each tenant in a tenancy.

"The RTB cannot provide legal advice to say if a Notice of Termination is valid or invalid. If a tenant feels the Notice of Termination is invalid and/or that the landlord has breached their obligations, they can take a Dispute case with the RTB. An independent mediator/adjudicator can assess the validity of a Notice of Termination during Dispute Resolution proceedings."

Sinn Féin's Eoin O Broin said that the "staggering" figures showed the need to reverse the decision to allow the moratorium to lapse.

He said that if those homes which had been served with notices had more than one person, over 10,000 people could be at risk.

Mr O'Broin said that if the Government knew the scale of the figures they were "callous", but if they did not they were "incompetent".

"I have to say on the basis of just these figures alone, the government must immediately announce the reversal of their decision not to extend the ban on evictions. They must bring forward emergency legislation this month and we will support that legislation to protects tenants and extend the ban until the end of the year.

"There is simply no way that homeless services can cope with that number of people who will have to give up their tenancies in April, May and June. It's simply physically not possible. And what that means is those people with notices will be forced to move in with family and friends. You could have not only a flood of presentations to homeless services, but also of adjudications to the Residential Tenancies Board.

"And this will lead to an increase in rough sleeping there is no doubt about it, and it will lead, if the Governments do not extend the ban, of evictions and families with children, as was as the practice in 2018 and 2019, being referred to Garda stations for a safe place to sleep.

"I cannot express the gravity of these numbers enough."

Mr O Broin was echoed by Labour leader Ivana Bacik.

“In its belated and vague attempts to assuage the fears of vulnerable renters, the government is telling us that the tenant-in-situ scheme will work to protect people. It’s very difficult to have any faith in this, given the failures and delays by local authorities thus far in operating the scheme.

“Indeed, the reality is, even if government does scale up the tenant in situ scheme, this will not protect anyone at risk of eviction once the ban lifts at the end of the month. In less than three weeks, we are going to face a true social crisis. Housing is the cornerstone of a person’s life; it provides the security to live a fulfilled life. Renters have been utterly failed by this government."

Speaking on Tuesday as the ban on evictions was announced to be ending, Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien said his Department had estimated 2,700 notices were paused by the moratorium, but stressed not every notice leads to an eviction.