Security of tenure is 'key to a well-functioning private rental sector'

Security of tenure is 'key to a well-functioning private rental sector'

John-Mark McCafferty, chief executive officer, Threshold; Ann-Marie O’Reilly, national advocacy manager, Threshold; and Liam Reid, chairman, Threshold. Picture: Fintan Clarke/Coalesce

Private tenants in Ireland are being “penalised” because Ireland is “keeping regulation weaker than it needs to be to keep a small cohort of accidental landlords in the sector”, a top housing academic has said.

Speaking at the launch of Threshold’s annual report, UCD assistant professor Mick Byrne said that security of tenure is key to a well-functioning private rental sector.

“What needs to happen is tenancies for a defined period, probably the six years which is the current tenancy term, in which there is absolutely no way a tenant can be evicted unless there’s rent arrears or breach of tenant obligations, but no no-fault evictions,” he said. 

“And at the end of the six years, landlords have the opportunity to recover their property. I would suggest that’s an appropriate balance given the nature and make-up of the Irish rental sector.” 

Housing non-profit Threshold launched its report in Dublin on Wednesday, highlighting how more than 12,000 households reached out last year over fears they would made homeless, with around 10,000 people considered at-risk saved from homelessness. 

Speaking at the launch, Threshold CEO John-Mark McCafferty thanked Minister of State Kieran O’Donnell for his pledge for more funding for the charity next year amid heightened demand from renters for support.

He said that evictions have increased substantially in recent years and it was vital the charity maintains its tenancy protection work and remains “as responsive and agile as we possibly can”.

In his remarks, Mr O’Donnell said that reducing the risk of homelessness was “all about increasing supply” and that the Government was doing that. He said that the present increases are not enough but “it’s going in the right direction”.

In comments in a panel alongside Mr Byrne, several different politicians had their say on the private rental sector with Sinn FĂ©in’s Eoin Ó Broin remarking that, over the last 30 years, it has “never been harder to be a renter”.

He described Mr O’Donnell’s comments as being “like the story of the man who sets your house on fire and gives you a small bucket of water to put out the flames”.

“Ultimately, it’s about delivering more social and affordable housing and shrinking the private rental sector,” he said.

Labour Senator Rebecca Moynihan said that the private rental sector won’t solve the housing crisis in Ireland and that it wasn’t adequate to take a “piecemeal” approach to try to keep landlords in the sector.

“When we hear of landlords fleeing the market, I hate using that word, what we’re talking about is a group of people maybe in the 90s or during the boom getting buy-to-let mortgages,” she said.

“And those people are simply aging out. They shouldn’t be landlords. They never should’ve been providing secure homes for people and doing what the State traditionally what has always done in Ireland.”

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