Mr. Paul Lemass:

On the ban on evictions, the actual language in the text says that this part shall not apply to a tenant where a landlord serves a declaration except that in the absence of a declaration by the landlord the protection applies. Part of the informing of this consideration was the need to balance rights; the fact that there are landlords experiencing financial hardship; there are 16,000 buy-to-let mortgages in arrears; and, frankly, the fact that the bar for the declaration is as high as for a tenant. It is an offence for a landlord to make a false declaration and all of the same protections apply in that respect.