Mr. Mike Allen:

Most of the questions have been answered.

Under the current system, when a person becomes homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, he or she will contact the local authority setting out the reasons this has occurred. I am not aware of any local authority that has a system for checking this information. There is an obvious feedback system which would enable local authorities to become part of policing this. When people inform the local authority that they have received a notice of termination because their accommodation is being put up for sale, the local authorities should automatically verify whether this is true. Currently, if anyone wishes to contest the reasons given by the landlord, he or she can go to the Residential Tenancies Board.

The State must police its own laws. While we recognise that successive Governmen

ts have recently introduced a number of additional rights for private rental tenants, for instance, the rent control systems and additional requirements on people choosing to sell up, it has not done anything to police these rights. We hear people make the case that rent control is not working. A system that pushes against the market, is not policed and does not have penalties will not work.

Landlords have an major economic interest in doing exactly what the previous speaker described. If we are to prevent them from doing this, we need not only legislation but systems for checking up on what is being done. I find it incredible that local authorities put so many questions to families and spend public money on hotel rooms, family hubs and so forth, yet they do not have a system for checking whether an eviction is being carried out for the reasons given. They should do this as a means of protecting public funds.