Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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I thank the Chair. The Bill is about strengthening the Tyrrelstown amendment. The Tyrrelstown amendment, as I am sure most committee members will be aware, was introduced to ensure that where ten or more rental homes are being sold together, renters would not be evicted and would be able to stay in their homes as long as they are paying their rent and comply with all the other normal conditions of renting. It does not give a general protection against eviction. It is if they are compliant with the terms of their tenancy, paying their rent - all those normal conditions - and are not involved in anti-social behaviour, etc.

The issue that the Bill is trying to address is that there has been a number of instances where the Tyrrelstown amendment has proved to be ineffective, and in a way that was not intended by legislators initially when it was brought in.

We have seen a number of cases where the get-out clause from the Tyrrelstown amendment has been utilised and, even though the renters in those situations have taken cases to the RTB and the RTB has found in favour of the renters, the entire process around this, and the stress around it as the eviction notices had originally been served, has effectively resulted in the number of households left within that apartment block or, if that is the case, the number of houses together falling beneath the threshold of ten and then fresh eviction notices being issued. As a result, the safety-in-numbers protection against eviction, because the eviction notices have been issued and because of the process around that protection, no longer applies to them as the numbers have been whittled down.

I acknowledge the support of the Government in terms of letting this Bill get through to Committee Stage.

As the Cathaoirleach was saying, the Tyrrelstown amendment was one of the fundamental changes in the Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016. In that Act, the amendment was meant to ensure that where the sale of ten or more homes was happening, existing tenants would be able to stay in place. That is quite a different situation from the one of individual landlords, for example, small landlords who may own one or two properties or may be renting out their principal private residents if they go abroad for work or for study or any such issues.

The issue in the get-out clause or the exception is that it allows for the market value of the property when sold with the tenants in situ. If it is below 20% and if the application of the rule - the Tyrrelstown amendment - would be unduly onerous or cause hardship to the landlord, he or she can invoke this clause.

During the Second Stage debate on this, the Minister brought some data on this and said, based on a sample from the RTB, that it was aware of that there were four uses of this clause. Those four uses resulted in four appeals by renters to the RTB and in those four instances, the rulings made by the RTB were in favour of the renters. Certainly, from the sample data made available by the RTB to the Minister, it shows that where this clause has been used, the use of the clause has not been upheld. While that has happened, the resulting use of the clause has undermined the protection in the Tyrrelstown amendment because it has ultimately led to the number of households in the apartment block or cluster of homes falling beneath the threshold of ten and the protection not being in place.

That is what the Bill is about. It is quite a short Bill, as members can see. In effect, it is an amendment to the Tyrrelstown amendment. I would be delighted to take questions and hear comments.