Minister must publish report on rental sector

WE call on Minister Burton to publish the report which details her department’s study on the rental sector and shows where rent supplement is more than market rate.

It is unacceptable to undermine the private rental sector by using the very people they are meant to be supporting to force rent reductions, effectively rent control. The Residential Tenancies Act 2004 defines “market rent”, in relation to the tenancy of a dwelling, it is the rent which a willing tenant not already in occupation would give and a willing landlord would take for the dwelling, in each case on the basis of vacant possession being given, and having regard to the letting values of dwellings of a similar size, type and character to the dwelling and situated in a comparable area to that in which it is situated. Landlords will, in future, be very cautious when renting property.

We have to pay the €200 Non-Principal Property Tax, €100 household charge, €90 PRTB Registration, absorb 25% reduction in mortgage interest relief and now take up to a 25% reduction in rental income. Vulnerable tenants who depend on the state to house them are being forced to negotiate these unfair reductions. It is a mean way of developing rent control.