Ms Margaret McCormick:

What I find worrying is that we constantly talk about the average rent. We do not know what the average rent is. The Daft.ieindex deals with rents in the last three months and refers to incoming tenants and new tenancies. The RTB's index also reflects the position in the last three months. One does not know what the average rent is from it as most people are living in their properties for much longer. The average tenancy is three years. The registration process will capture that information, but we are basing all of the legislation on the average rent. That issue needs to be addressed.

We need a deposit that is sufficient to warrant the risk being taken. For most landlords, a property is extremely expensive to purchase. Landlords with fewer than three properties make up two thirds of the market. If damage is done, there has to be a mechanism or some recourse to get some of the cost back. In a situation where we have received a one-month deposit, if the tenant does not pay the last month's rent, that money is gone. If tenants do not pay their rent, we have to start serving notices and follow the legislation as it is written. Therefore, we have to issue warning letters and a notice of termination. If they do not leave, we must go to the RTB. We are, therefore, looking at a huge risk. Anybody who takes in a tenant at any time is facing a huge risk. The vast majority of tenants and the vast majority of landlords are good, but it is up to a landlord to decide how much is required by way of a deposit and with how much he or she is comfortable. It is that simple. If damage is done and the rent is not paid, there is nothing available, no recourse and no protection if somebody has no income. In that instance the State does not protect the landlord. The tenant is protected by it as the landlord cannot evict the tenant until the processes are complete. In a case where the rent is not being paid, this is fundamentally unfair and a huge risk for the landlord.

The CPI does not reflect the cost of providing accommodation. The rent pressure zones were provided for with good intentions, but they have had dark consequences for many. If the rent is substantially below the market rent, one cannot increase it. Having decreased substantially for a long time, from 2012 to 2015, inclusive, when they started to come back up, there was a two-year cap provided for by the Minister. As soon as it was lifted, we were in a situation where many landlords whose rents were substantially below the market rates were not in a position to keep subventing the rent payments on their properties and as a result had to sell. The last call I took yesterday was from somebody with a three-bedroom house in Drogheda. The rent paid by the previous tenant was €600. That tenant has left and the landlord can no longer afford to subvent the rent payments. Under the HAP scheme, it is wanted for €1,200 which is below the market rent. The landlord cannot do it because it would be breaking the rent pressure zone law. The property is being put up for sale. There is nothing in the legislation that addresses the properties that are being rented at substantially below market rents and there are unintended consequences, on of which is that are we are losing properties.