Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am trying to get my head around the detail of amendment No. 55 on the new section 19 that the Minister intends to insert in the Bill. There is a drafting issue with the amendment. It is a technical one and has no great impact other than not being clear in plain English.

I wish to query what is intended by subsection (6), which reads:

Where immediately before the relevant date a notice under section 22(2)--(a) has been served on the tenant, or

(b) the rent review concerned has commenced,then subsections (3) and (4) shall not apply to the new rent, referred to in section 22(2), stated in that notice in accordance with that section.

A question was asked this morning. That is why I checked the facts myself. I am not crystal clear on what is the Minister's intention, but it is my understanding that he intends that the new 4% rent increase cap will not apply to a new rent when certain procedures for increasing the rent are already commenced. Under paragraph (a) of the subsection, where immediately before the date this section becomes law, a notice under section 22(2) of the 2004 Act, as amended, has been served on the tenant, the 4% cap does not apply to that rent. Section 22 of the 2004 Act deals with the right of the tenant, as the Minister will know, to be notified of a new rent that has been set pursuant to the rent review. Subsection (2) requires the landlord to serve on the tenant at least 90 days before the date on which the new rent is to have effect a prescribed notice setting out the detailed particulars.

It is easy enough to know that subsection (6)(a) of the amendment will mean the rent cap will not apply in cases where, under section 22(2), notice of a new rent has been already served. Am I right in that? However, what does subsection (6)(b) of the amendment mean? The new cap will not apply in cases where, immediately before the date on which the Bill becomes law, "the rent review concerned has commenced". The term "rent review" is not used anywhere else in the amendment or the Bill. It is used in the 2015 Act, but only in reference to housing body tenancies, and it is not defined. This subsection assumes that a rent review is a fixed process without a defined starting date. If so, how does-----

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