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. Patrick Davitt:

The auction piece is not taken into consideration in this Bill at all because you do not have 90 days, 90 hours or 90 minutes. You not even have 90 seconds to make up your mind. You are either selling the property or not, so the tenant must be in a situation to buy the property if it is put to auction. If I am standing in front of the Senator and he is bidding me, for instance, €450,000 for the property and my president, Mr. Kennedy, is the tenant and he says he will match the €450,000, then I go back to the Senator who will give €451,000. Will the tenant match that? He says he will. Will he match the €452,000 bid I have? Will he give me more than that? Also, each person at that auction must be in a position to sign a contract and pay a deposit on that particular day.