Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 15 October 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

Residential Tenancies Board: Chairperson Designate

Mr. Tom Dunne:

I do not know the answer to that question. I will be asking that question.

On the security of tenure issue, I am not sure that kind of analogy is the same here. The original legislation was constructed to ensure that there is nothing in the marketplace that stops a landlord offering a tenancy for 20 years or 30 years, or whatever. The tenancy can be as long as the landlord and tenant choose. I, as a landlord, can offer a person a house for 21 years or for the rest of the person's life and we could agree a rent. There is nothing in the legislation to prevent us from agreeing a fixed rent for the rest of the person's life. That is an institutional thing in the marketplace. A very important point to remember is that if one takes on a lease, one takes on a liability and a contract to pay the rent until it is over. It is a complex one. There is a culture in this country that we rent for a short time and not for long time.