Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have no problem with the principles but I think the period of three months suggested in the amendment is very short for all sorts of reasons as I have described. The issue of flexibility was launched today in the four Dublin regional authorities. It is not in place in all regions but we need to move towards having it in place in the rest of the country. Having flexibility in cases where people are at risk of homelessness seems to me to be a very sensible approach to the whole issue of rent caps. It does not make sense to have people in hotels instead of being able to stay where they are and have the flexibility of the rent cap. The problem with raising or lowering rent caps, as the case may be, on a three-monthly basis is that one is influencing the market - I am sorry to call it a market but that is what it is essentially - in so far as there is a danger that landlords will simply increase the prices as they are unlikely to decrease the prices. Even where there is an agreement between the landlord and tenant for a year, for example, a three-monthly review would interfere with that process.

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