Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The meeting which the Minister, Deputy Kelly, held with the Irish Property Owners Association was part of the consultations my Department is having with a range of stakeholders in regard to the development of legislative proposals. In that context, the association raised certain issues of interest to it, including the taxation treatment of landlords and the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations.

Fundamentally, the main cause of rising rents is a lack of supply in the market. The implementation of the range of actions under the Government’s Construction 2020 strategy will support increased housing supply. In addition, the Social Housing Strategy 2020 published in November of last year sets out clear, measurable actions and targets to increase the supply of social housing, reform delivery arrangements and meet the housing needs of all households on the housing list.

The report Rent Stability in the Private Rented Sector, commissioned by the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB, and published in autumn of last year, includes an examination of rent regulation regimes in other countries and puts forward a series of policy options on rent stability for consideration. These include options in regard to rent regulation as well as measures aimed at increasing awareness of tenant rights under the existing legislation.

The Government is monitoring the rental market closely and we are considering a number of policy options in regard to achieving greater rent certainty. The options put forward in the Rent Stability in the Private Rented Sector report I referred to form part of these considerations. The Government's overriding objective in regard to rents is to achieve stability and sustainability in the market for the benefit of tenants, landlords and society as a whole.

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