Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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Evidence from all the agencies funded by the Government to deal with homelessness shows that the vast majority of homelessness is caused by evictions from the private rented sector. According to Focus Ireland, which is funded by the Government as the main agency dealing with family homelessness, 69% of homeless families reported that their last stable home was in the private rented sector. Traditionally, the number of evictions into homelessness peaks in January. If that has happened again this year, the official homelessness figures for the State will surge to in excess of 10,000 when the information for January is released next week. It is insanity to continue to allow economic evictions to take place in the midst of the greatest housing and homelessness crisis in the history of the State. This Bill aims to address that issue and try to stanch the flow.

The level of precarity in the private rented sector is illustrated by the fact that the majority of tenants have been renting their current home for less than two years. By contrast, only 5% of mortgaged owner occupiers and only 11% of local authority tenants have been living in their current homes for less than three years. This fast rate of turnover is persisting despite the fact that an increasing number of people are living permanently in the private rented sector. An April 2018 survey of tenants by Threshold found that 70% have been renting for five years or longer. In other words, families are repeatedly being uprooted and forced to move. This insecurity of tenure is especially sharp for housing assistance payment, HAP, rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and rent supplement tenants who find it hardest to source private rented accommodation and are most likely to end up homeless as a result. These tenants now make up between a quarter and a third of tenants in the private rented sector due to the collapse of council housing construction under Fine Gael and the privatisation of social housing.

The Bill targets four of the main reasons for evictions from the private rented sector and into homelessness. Focus Ireland research shows that one third of homeless families became homeless after being evicted from the private rented sector for the reasons covered by the Bill. The reasons are the private rented home being removed from the market due to the landlord selling, the landlord's property being repossessed or sold by a bank, the landlord moving back in, major renovations, or the landlord giving the property to a family member.

In other words, this Bill would help to keep one third of families currently being made homeless in their homes. Likewise, if this Bill had been enacted in 2017, when its first iteration was moved, well over half of the families or individuals contacting Threshold, having been threatened with eviction, would have been protected. The Bill would also cover the reasons cited in 40% of all eviction notices disputed with the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB.

Let us look at some of the proposals. In the case of a landlord claiming that he or she wants to sell, this Bill would ban the sale of property as a reason for eviction. The property can be sold with tenants in situ, as in other European countries, for example, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark. According to Threshold's 2017 annual report published last year, sale of property was the common reason given in eviction notices, it having been used in 38% of the eviction notices dealt with by the Threshold. Almost 2,000 families or households faced with eviction on grounds of sale of property would have been protected by the first iteration of this Bill if the Government had not voted it down in January 2017. According to Focus Ireland, the biggest push factor into homeless remains families being evicted into homelessness from the private rental sector, where landlords are selling up and, further, that without structural changes to reduce this influx into homelessness it will be hard to make further progress in reducing total homelessness. That speaks for itself.

The Bill gives tenants of buy-to-let properties in receivership the protections of the Residential Tenancies Act, RTA, by including banks and receivers in the definition of "landlord", as called for by Threshold. This would remedy the current situation whereby tenants essentially lose all their rights if their landlord defaults on a loan and the home is repossessed by a bank. The latest Central Bank figures show 12,732 buy-to-let mortgages are in long-term arrears of over two years. The majority are tenanted with the occupants at risk of eviction on grounds of sale and-or because of the lack of Residential Tenancies Act protection for tenants of buy-to-let properties in receivership. This Bill would give tenants in this situation the same security of tenure as other tenants as well as the other RTA protections, for example, in regard to deposits and repairs.

On the issue of a landlord claiming a relative is moving into a property, this Bill would oblige landlords to pay six months' rent in compensation to the tenant in the case of a break of a lease for this purpose. The purpose of this is to prevent unscrupulous landlords from using the relative argument as an excuse to evict tenants in order to bring in new tenants on a higher rent.

On the question of renovation, the Bill also removes renovation and refurbishment as grounds for eviction. This is in addition to the original anti-eviction Bill of January 2017. This is necessary now in light of the major increase in so-called renovictions. Some 12% of Threshold eviction queries in 2017 related to refurbishment or renovation and 8% of eviction notices determined by the RTB in 2017 cited substantial refurbishment. An outrageous 74% of such claims were found to be invalid. In most cases, refurbishments can be done without any need for the tenant to move out and certainly without need to terminate a tenancy. Tenants could move out to allow major refurbishment but this should only happen with the consent of the tenant. Otherwise, the landlord should wait until the end of the tenancy to renovate. In the event of health and safety or fire issues, this could be dealt with under the relevant legislation in those areas rather than the Residential Tenancies Act.

On the issue of landlords giving notice just before the expiry of the four to six year Part 4 tenancy, landlords can currently evict tenants for no reason at the end of a four or six year Part 4 tenancy. This Bill makes Part 4 tenancies indefinite so that this recurring eviction period or danger zone for long term tenants would no longer exist.

Other measures in the Bill include purpose-built student accommodation to be brought within the remit of the Residential Tenancies Act. This would ensure that tenancy protections of the Residential Tenancies Act, as amended by this Bill, including rent pressure zones, apply to the nearly 40,000 students living in student specific accommodation, whether private or publicly owned, for example, by the colleges. According to a survey of students carried out by the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, in 2017, this would cover approximately one third of students. I understand a representative of USI is here and will also make a presentation so I will not elaborate as I am sure she will do so.

The Bill would reduce the timeframe for the coming into effect of Part 4 tenancy protections from six months to two. Currently, landlords can evict tenants for no reason during the first six months of a tenancy. Threshold's latest survey of tenants in April 2018 found that nearly half, 46%, of tenants have been living in their current home for one year or less. This is a necessary change. An additional reason for amending the law so that Part 4 tenancies kick in after two months is that we anticipate that if this Bill passes, landlords might try to circumvent the increased protections for tenants it contains by bringing in new tenants every six months. This is a way of future-proofing the Bill.

The Bill extends the notice period to be provided by landlords when terminating a tenancy. I do not propose to read all of the details into the record as the tables are laid out in the Bill.

We believe there is a need for this legislation. We are in the middle of the greatest housing and homelessness crisis in the history of this State. The cause of the increase in homelessness is eviction from the private rental sector. This Bill aims to stem that flow, in particular by tackling two of the main reasons cited on the notices to quit, namely, eviction on ground of sale of property and eviction on ground of renovation, or so-called reno-victions. Let us ban this practice. This is a sensible and practical proposal in the current climate.