New laws place alarming burden on landlords

READING through the provisions of the Residential Tenancies Act, I was alarmed at the bureaucratic nature of the legislation and the burden it will place on landlords and letting agencies.

It is not uncommon, for example, for three or four people to rent an apartment and in time these tenants change. Now, whenever this happens, either a new lease or some assignment of lease will be required.

Is that a new €70 charge (the quoted cost of registering a new tenancy)? The maximum charge quoted is €300 over 12 months, depending on how many units in a property are occupied, and heaven help the landlord if he decides to sell any of them.

What happens when a landlord is over or below this threshold? Is there a requirement to deregister when the property is vacant? Landlords accept the intentions behind the act, but fear its implementation. As with many other acts, it may end up being viewed as just another form of stealth tax.

The biggest complaint landlords would have is that the act presumes that tenancies last forever and, once registered, will continue being renewed on the same dates.

In other words, properties, once bought, will never be sold or exchanged and all tenancies will commence and terminate on the same date. This is not real life.

Private landlords these days seem to be equated with pub landlords who try to accommodate smokers.

Will they be next to receive a written warning from the attorney general that they have breached the provisions of an act?

It’s clear to me that most landlords will rewrite all their lease agreements to accommodate the act, especially when it comes to the termination of leases, and in spite of what the act purports to achieve, it may actually result in less security for tenants.

I can well understand the Irish Property Owners Association being up in arms over this legislation.

In the end, does it really provide better protection for tenants? This legislation was formulated in response to a property market where good-quality rented accommodation was in short supply. This is no longer the case, as most landlords will tell you.

Landlords chase tenants these days - not the other way around.

Richard Atherton

Island View

Malahide

Co Dublin