Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I would like to address amendment No. 3 to Seanad amendment No. 53 which reads:

In section 19(1), to delete paragraph (b) and substitute the following:“(b) the duration of tenancy shall not affect the notice period required for termination by a tenant, which shall in all cases be 28 days.”.

It is about notice requirements for tenants. What the amendment seeks to do is to change the minimum notice period required of tenants. The effect of the Seanad amendment and the original Act means that the longer a tenant is in a property, the longer the period of notice they need to give. This does not make any sense. Why should a tenant who has been in situfor two and a half years have to give two months notice that they must leave? Minimum notice periods for termination for landlords make perfect sense. The longer a tenant has been in place, the more they have put down roots and the more difficult it is for them to pack up and go. The flip side is not the same. A landlord is running a business and finding a new tenant is not going to be any more difficult simply because a tenant has been in the property for two or three years. It makes sense that the minimum notice a tenant should have to give to a landlord in all cases be 28 days. This should be more than enough time for a landlord to seek out new tenants and get their affairs in order.

Demanding long notice periods from tenants prevents the type of mobility that is an advantage of renting in the first place. At the end of their tenancy, they do not own an asset but the quid pro quois that they have a certain flexibility in their living arrangements and can move with relative ease, which is one of the reasons why some people choose to rent. This is something we should be encouraging.

Another issue the Minister of State should consider is the fact that given that the legislation only allows the subletting of a property at the landlord's discretion, giving a long notice period for tenants could see some tenants paying double rent for a couple of months if they need to move out quickly for work or some other reason and if the landlord will not let them sublet the property. This is another reason to encourage the retention of 28 days notice for the tenant. I am fully in favour of the longer notice period required of the landlord.

The Minister of State should agree to this amendment. It is a positive measure and I cannot see how anybody could disagree with it.

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