‘Rents are racing through the roof in Dundalk’ - Ó Murchu

Louth councillor Ruairí Ó Murchú has reacted to the latest daft.ie report which shows the average rent for a house in Louth now stands at €1,121, an increase of 13.5% from last year.

Cllr. Ó Murchú, who is on Louth County Council’s Housing Strategic Policy Committee (SPC), also highlighted the issue of the lack of Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) in North Louth, but said he was pleased to note that the Housing Agency is considering designating part of Dundalk as a RPZ.

The Dundalk South representative said: “These latest figures from the property website show that the average rent for a three bedroom house in Louth is €1,121, which is a massive hike of 83.6% on rents at their lowest during the recession.

“There are no rent pressure zones in Dundalk despite the huge increase in rents over the past couple of years in the town. This issue was raised by me at a recent Louth County Council meeting, which led to a presentation by the Housing Agency at the SPC last week.

“We were told that Dundalk South will soon be proposed as a Rent Pressure Zone by the Housing Agency. This is something to be welcomed but it needs to happen alongside Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy’s proposals around enforcement of the rent price increases within the zones.

“There are other proposals about the strengthening the powers of the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) to carry out inspections. This would require additional resources for the RTB and local authorities so that they can carry out these vital inspections in a proper and timely manner.

“The rents are racing through the roof in Dundalk and other parts of Louth and we are sitting waiting on the ‘criteria’ to be met so the zones can be introduced”.