Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 5 December 2023

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government

General Scheme of the Residential Tenancies (Right to Purchase) Bill: Discussion

Mr. Brendan Allen:

I wish to interject. If a property is going for sale by a landlord, the reason primarily, in my experience, is that they are in financial difficulty and want to move out of that situation and achieve the best possible price. The problem is if you do not achieve market price, you might not even clear your mortgage with it, which has been the case. We have had ten interest rate increases in the past year and a half. Landlords are in difficulty with that. In my opinion, it is never the intention to force homelessness on somebody by landlords, rather, they want to sell their property. If the tenant can buy it, be it individually or through a local council, so be it, because the intention is to sell.