Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am trying to be helpful in order that we can move on. Let us say a landlord rented an apartment to me, I moved out and six months later the apartment was rented to Deputy Ó Broin.

Under this provision, the landlord would be allowed to increase the rent by 4% on what I was paying six months ago but under the original amendment, that would not have happened. Under the original amendment, it would only be possible to increase the rent by 2% because the t in t/12, referred to in the Minister's amendment, was calculated as the length of time between when I took out a lease and Deputy Ó Broin took out a lease, which was six months. Therefore, t/12 meant that the rent could only increase by 2%. The point I am making - the Minister can correct me if I am wrong because, as I have said, we are only looking at his amendments now - is that what he is now providing for is that where a tenancy changes hands within six months the landlord can increase the rent by 4%.

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