Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a barrier to that, however, because a person in County Louth earning €31,000 or more will not be eligible for HAP in County Meath, whereas a person in County Meath who earns €35,000 would be eligible for the payment. I appreciate the Department is dealing with the issue and I understand Ms Hurley appreciates the ambiguities involved.

I had a constituent with me the other day who had a problem with accommodation. The individual in question, who is on HAP, wrote to the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB. On foot of that letter, the RTB wrote to the person's landlord stating that X, Y and Z had to be done. The following day the family received a letter or legal document from a solicitor stating the family had to vacate within the legally required number of days on the grounds that a named person, who happened to be a sister of the owner, was moving into the property. That is a case of serious discrimination. The landlord is abusing a loophole. Why should a sister, brother or other family member have a right to dispossess somebody else, particularly in this context? The difficulty is that if the landlord's sister moves into this accommodation, the family will be made homeless and will have nowhere to go. We need a moratorium for at least two years providing that this ground would not be deemed a sufficient reason to require a tenant to vacate a property. Provided the tenant is paying the rent and there are no rent arrears or anti-social issues, he or she should be able to stay in the accommodation. We need that certainty, which would not place landlords at a disadvantage because they would continue to receive rental income. It has never been more attractive for people to rent out properties. Landlords are getting significant rents and are clearly being well paid. We must ensure that nobody is put out of suitable accommodation except in extremely exceptional circumstances until he or she has a social or an affordable house to move into. That should be a core principle of our letting policies. I do not know whether Ms Hurley can comment on that. It seems wrong that the family to whom I referred are being put out because they wanted the house they are renting to be up to scratch. They were paying the rent and are suddenly told that this person, who is not a son or a daughter of the owner, is moving in. I do not know whether Ms Hurley has a view on that.