'First refusal' proposals for renters 'legally problematic and unfair', says Fianna Fáil TD

Proposed measures would provide tenants with first refusal to buy a property if the landlord decides to sell up. The property would be subject to an independent valuation and would be sold to the tenant at this price without going on the open market.

Government measures that would force landlords to give renters first refusal in buying homes are "unfair" and would be challenged in the courts, a Fianna Fáil TD has suggested.

As part of a suite of measures to protect renters, Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien is working on legislation that would provide tenants with first refusal to buy a property if the landlord decides to sell up.

Under the proposals currently being drafted, the property would be subject to an independent valuation and would be sold to the tenant at this price without going on the open market.

However, Kildare North TD James Lawless, who is also a qualified barrister, said the plan would be unfair on landlords and questioned whether it would even be constitutional.

He said restricting a property owner who has perhaps "spent 20 years paying their taxes, paying a mortgage, making sacrifices, and saving" to sell to a tenant at a certain price would be "legally problematic, but also just unfair".

He said people who purchased a rental property on the understanding that they could put it on the open market could mount a legal challenge to such legislation.

"I think there will be many challenges to that, not least because it will be a retrospective application of law."

Mr Lawless added: "We'll wait and see the details, I'm confident that will be addressed in the final scheme. The proposals that were floated, I think they are the right idea, but the wrong implementation."

TD James Lawless: People who purchased a rental property on the understanding that they could put it on the open market could mount a legal challenge to proposed legislation. File picture

Finance Minister Michael McGrath said the Attorney General is "actively" working on the proposals with a number of departments and he expects draft legislation to be prepared within "a number of weeks".

However, he said such arrangements are already being entered into by landlords and tenants on a "voluntary basis".

He again defended the decision to lift the eviction ban, saying: "The Government doesn't want to see anybody facing homelessness, and we will do everything we possibly can to prevent that situation."

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said the Government now has to make sure that measures announced by Mr O'Brien in recent weeks are fully implemented.

He said a number of measures had come into force on Saturday when the eviction moratorium was lifted.

Under the plan, local authorities have been asked to buy up 1,500 rental homes occupied by Housing Assistance Payment and Rental Accommodation Scheme tenants in the next 12 months.

Mr Ryan said separate measures to allow local authorities to buy homes in cases where a rental property is being put up for sale and the tenant is at risk of becoming homeless are "not insignificant".

Under this measure, local authorities or approved housing bodies would then lease the home back to the tenant under a cost-rental agreement.

"Most landlords are going to want to go with this backstop approach because you will save on advertising costs, you have no rental gap. You are saving those sorts of costs because you don't have the estate agents, all the advertising, all the interim costs; the rent runs right through the whole period, so there will be real savings and benefits," Mr Ryan told Newstalk.

"There are complexities in it as with any system, but I believe it is a significant improvement in rental rights in this country."

Mr Ryan said all local authorities have been contacted about the scheme and a special team has been set up in the Department of Housing "to make sure everyone is fully informed and behind the approach".

He said the lifting of the eviction ban is the right thing to do, "difficult as it is".