Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

In my line of work, I am in construction and have been all my life. I look for the supply to rental accommodation. Nobody is building now for rental accommodation in our area. There is no one. In the other sector, very few people are buying houses for rental because they see all the criteria that surround that. I am very fortunate that in our area I know some fantastic landlords, and fantastic tenants, but there is a minority of poor landlords and poor tenants. The good landlords and good tenants are being tarnished with the same brush as the bad landlords and bad tenants, which is causing a major problem. We are also having problems with the units in our area because if people want to invest in them they cannot because there is not enough proper infrastructure to build there with the planning process that is in place.

There is also the issue of the quality of the houses people are renting. As I said, I know some very good landlords and the tenants look after the house as if it is their own. They have built a life there and people are happy. I know people who are in rental accommodation for nine or ten years and they do not want to move because they are very happy with the situation. The landlord is very happy with them and they have worked it out among themselves. However, I have seen other situations where bad landlords have despicably bad houses and do no maintenance. Even after the council comes in and tells them to improve the situation, they will not do it because they know they can get someone to move in tomorrow morning anyway because of the housing shortage. That is a huge problem in certain areas. What do the witnesses think would hold onto good landlords? Could a system could be put in place to grade the landlord, and grade the tenants, so we can separate the good ones from the bad ones? Then we could deal with the problems, rather than changing legislation every three or four weeks or trying to change different sections every week for a minority of people. Good tenants will not want to move and good landlords will not want to raise rents. They work with one another. The goalposts are moving the whole time in the sector and these bad landlords seem to be the ones we are talking about an awful lot.

There are certain cases where landlords try to get double the rent from people because they have properties with massive mortgages on them. They are trying to get back not only the interest but part of the property to see if they can get a way out. What can we do to help the good landlords and the good tenants, while at the same time bringing the stock that is there up to standard? That might mean getting local authorities involved or something. What do the witnesses see as a way forward?