Dundalk councillor says Govt's 'Rent Hike Bill' will throw renters "to the wolves"

Sinn Féin Councillor for Dundalk Sionainn McCann said Louth renters could face rent increases of between €3,000 - €5,000 as the government presses ahead with its Residential Tenancies Bill.

The changes to the rental market, which are set to come into effect on March 1st will allow landlords whose properties become vacant to resent rents to market rates.

Cllr McCann said renters cannot afford to pay "outrageously high" rents and save for a house deposit at the same time.  

She said as a renter, she is "one of the lucky ones ones because many of my generation are still living at home with their families despite having jobs and earning a living."

The legislation also introduces a minimum tenure of 6 years for new tenancies.

Cllr McCann said “what is the point of having security of tenure
for six years or any other length of time if you are paying crippling rent and can’t afford to live?”

She warned that renters could be evicted to allow landlords to reset rents to market rate. 

"Renters could either be evicted to make use of the new market reset rules or be forced to pay large increases to their already unaffordable rents. It’s already happening,” she said

Although the legislation does set out that landlords with four or more tenancies cannot terminate a tenancy on a no-fault basis such as selling the property or giving it to a family member.

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Cllr McCann accused the government of throwing renters "to the wolves to satisfy the greed of big investors", and said her generation are facing "being firmly locked out of home ownership". 

She said that rising rent prices will force vulnerable people into the "shadow rental market" and into "unsafe digs and overcrowded house shares" which aren't registered with the Residential Tenancies Board.

The Sinn Féin councillor called on the government to deliver "social and affordable housing for those who are on the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and the Rental Assistance Scheme (RAS). She said by doing so it would free up "tens of thousands of private rented accommodation". 

A report from the Simon Community, found that there were zero properties available to rent within standard HAP limits across 16 areas, with just 31 available within any HAP limits, of which 27 were in Dublin.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.