Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My amendment states:

To delete all words after “That” and substitute the following:

“Dáil Éireann:

recognising that:

— the current level of rental inflation is not sustainable;

— rent inflation in Dublin and other cities is severely impacting on disposable incomes, pushing people into homelessness and posing a risk to our economic stability and competitiveness;

— rent certainty measures are required to reduce excessive rent inflation and increase security of occupancy for tenants and should be coupled with a range of incentives to expand the supply of rental properties; and

— any rent regulations should be introduced initially on a short-term basis with a sunset clause, pending analysis of their market impact;

acknowledging that:

— this Bill is very poorly thought out and would possibly bring further chaos to the rental market;

— while stronger rent certainty measures are required, any model has to be well-thought out and display a cognisance of the significant disruptions that any rent regulations can inflict on the market; and

— there is a need to examine the National Economic Social Council (NESC) proposal for a ‘flexible market sensitive model of rent regulation’;

agreeing that within one month the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government will introduce new rent certainty measures to the Oireachtas, subsequent to scrutiny between now and then by the Oireachtas Select Committee on Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government which will consider submissions and hold hearings that have regard in particular to ensure that the proposed Bill:

(a) is the most appropriate model for rent certainty regulations, including whether rents should be tied to local market indexes, such as historical market averages or to national indexes, such as the consumer price index;

(b) does not give rise to any unintended consequences that create adverse effects on the rental market, bearing in mind experience of rent certainty models in other jurisdictions;

(c) takes account of any negative impacts on rental unit supply and appropriate measures to limit these;

(d) does not give rise to constitutional difficulties by identifying and dealing with constitutional issues; and

(e) includes complimentary measures to increase supply of rental properties, including measures to assist so-called ‘involuntary landlords’, measures to encourage owners of vacant properties to lease properties to approved housing bodies or local authorities, and measures to direct low cost finance for new build-to-rent accommodation; and

declines to give a Second Reading to the Bill.”

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