Ms Ann-Marie O'Reilly:

As I understand it, there are sometimes not enough tenancies registered in an area for the calculations to be done to warrant designation as a rent pressure zone. That is problematic for people on the ground where there may be only five new tenancies registered in that local electoral area, LEA, in that year but they have all had significant rent increases.

Rent regulation should only ever be a temporary measure while the long-term solutions are put in place. We are now six years into rent pressure zones. We should be further along in delivering affordable housing, social housing, cost rental housing and so forth but, unfortunately, further consideration may need to be given to how the rent pressure zones, RPZs, are designated.