Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for tabling this Bill. I assure Deputy Ryan that if I was trying to chase good headlines I would be on a fool's errand.

The Government will not oppose the Bill and I will now outline the reasons we will not oppose it, and which measures we can support in legislation that we have already signalled as forthcoming. This week in the House there are two Private Members' Bills on the rental sector; one on student accommodation and one on the private rental sector. I welcome both Bills and I welcome the opportunity to discuss Ireland's rental accommodation market.

In response to points raised by Deputies Jan O'Sullivan and Brendan Ryan, I have just been informed that the April homeless report is now completed and I will endeavour to get the report out as soon as possible today. It means I will not be able to stay for the remainder of the debate. I apologise to Deputies that I will not be in the Chamber to hear their contributions to the debate. It is, however, in the interests of getting the report out today, which is the 30th of the month. I do not want to delay the report.

Reference was made to the issue of turnkey projects. Sometimes when we debate the issues around housing delivery, it can become somewhat academic. I have no problem with that because I like to get into the detail of these things; I like to understand the numbers and what is behind the numbers. When we start to no longer serve a useful purpose in those discussions, this is where we start to confuse the public. Where we become so focused on an academic point we may move away from a substantive point of view. This is a risk when we start to speak about the delivery of social housing in the State not being what it was 30, 40 or 50 years ago. We now use a number of different and new streams to make sure that social housing homes are built. The word "turnkey" gives the impression that we are buying a set of keys and moving into a house that is already built.

It actually means taking nothing and building something. It is the entire process of a project. Many approvals that cross my desk relate to lands that have not yet been built on. Only with local authorities putting money behind them are they built on, with the homes going to people on the social housing list. They are new social housing builds for local authorities and expanding the market, as opposed to trying to bite into a smaller market. They are an important part of the supply. Often, such projects can be undertaken more quickly than would be the case in using other channels.

I do not doubt Deputy Brendan Ryan's concerns about the issues he faces, given that he raises them with me regularly, but I may have detected an attempt to intimate an ideological shift between the time the Labour Party left the housing portfolio and the Fine Gael-led Government took it up and turned the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government into the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, with a dedicated Minister and a €6 billion fund to dramatically increase the social housing stock. In the last two years of Rebuilding Ireland there will be a sevenfold increase in the number of new social housing units built by local authorities and housing bodies. The reverse of what the Deputy has sought to intimate is the case. We have dramatically increased the number of new social housing units being built. We have had to rely on the housing assistance payment, HAP, and other methods because the stock is not available, but the last two years of Rebuilding Ireland which the Government introduced will see more people accommodated in new social housing than HAP tenancies.

Deputy Jan O'Sullivan referred to the rent pressure zone review. The document was published and sent to the members of the Oireachtas joint committee ahead of my appearance before it last week or the week before. We had an opportunity to debate it then.

The Bill deals with further protections in the rental sector. When discussing that sector, it is important that renters of every age and circumstance have viable choices. Accommodation must be affordable, safe and secure, that is, the tenancy must have a degree of certainty. Of course, some like the flexibility renting brings. I enjoyed it while I was a renter.

This country does not have a mature rental market and the crash left us with a number of accidental landlords, something we are working through. Some 70% of landlords own just one property, while 86% own two or less. That is not a mature rental sector by any means. We must try to improve it, but developing a European-style rental sector during a severe housing shortage will be a challenge. I know what "European-style" means because I rented for 12 years. I lived in student accommodation and student halls in London, shared a flat in Geneva and had my own apartment in Vienna. I have also rented in Ireland. I have seen the difference in security and opportunities for a renter.

It is important to recognise that we cannot force anyone to be a landlord. The State is landlord to many tenants and we have responsibilities in that regard. We can incentivise more landlords through, for example, taxation measures which we have pursued previously and should do again and regulation. I hope the build-to-rent guidelines that I published last year and which were approved at the beginning of this year will incentivise the building of more rental properties in a mature rental sector. The guidelines have worked in the provision of student accommodation. That is why thousands of new student bed places are being built. We expect the same to happen in the rental sector. Any new stock of rental accommodation would be beneficial.

We need larger and more professional landlords. We must recognise that the international players that are doing this work successfully in other countries and starting to do it successfully in Ireland are a necessary part of the solution if we are to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, which gave us today's situation where we have small landlords leaving the market because they are encumbered with debts that they should never have taken on, the sector is no longer an attractive place for them or the purpose for which they originally bought the units, for example, a child going to college, has come to fruition. We need larger landlords who will build to rent and bring rental accommodation to the market at scale.

The issue of student accommodation was debated yesterday. The Ministers of State, Deputies Damien English and Mary Mitchell O'Connor, are taking the lead where the provision of student accommodation is concerned. We want to introduce fair rents for students, but it must be done in the right way. We can do it. I received an email, one that I only just saw before coming into the Chamber, from Deputy Eoin Ó Broin suggesting he, Deputy Darragh O'Brien and I sit down to determine the best way of achieving it in legislation. We can achieve price control without having to introduce types of regulation and protection that are not necessary for student accommodation. Under such licence agreements which are often negotiated with universities, different protections are necessary for the business model and work fine for students.

The Government has introduced a number of measures to protect renters. Rent pressure zones are working. Rent inflation in Dublin last year was down 3% on the figure for the previous year. In the fourth quarter of last year there was an increase of 1.1%. This shows that the rent pressure zones are having an impact. We have new rental accommodation standards and new protections for tenants where multi-units are sold. We have a one-stop-shop in the Residential Tenancies Board to improve access for renters and landlords. We have broadened and strengthened the role of the board and are enforcing its determination orders in the District Court, rather than the Circuit Court, which is quicker and cheaper to do.

At the national ploughing championships last September I outlined my ambition for a two-year change management programme to make the Residential Tenancies Board a proper, independent regulator for the sector that would robustly defend the interests of both landlords and tenants. That begins with the residential tenancies Bill, the heads of which the Government approved last month. When enacted, the legislation will make it an offence to contravene the rent pressure zones, allow the Residential Tenancies Board to investigate and enforce independently the implementation of rent pressure zones and other measures, give greater security of tenure by extending notice to quit periods, in many instances, almost doubling them, and provide for rent transparency, which is welcomed by all sides of the House. The Bill will be published shortly. It was meant to happen this week, but there has been a slight delay. I hope it can be enacted before the summer recess, but it depends on how quickly we can get it through the Houses. That should not be difficult, given that its measures are supported, but if amendments to the Bill might be better suited to a second Bill that will be before us later in the year, I would prefer that option to be taken in order that the first Bill, on which there is broad agreement, can be passed by the Oireachtas before the summer recess. The second Bill will deal with more complex issues and need more time to be walked through by the House.

We will not oppose the Bill before the House. I will go through my notes briefly, as I am caught for time.

We support the publication of rents payable to ensure rent transparency. We support the proposal on a deposit not exceeding one month's rent. There is no evidence of a major problem in that regard, but we are working with the Residential Tenancies Board to re-examine the 2015 legislative provisions that have not yet been commenced, as they may need improvements. It is important that, when we enact the Bill, we do so without placing an additional cost on the tenant and landlord.

Last year we introduced a definition of what constituted grounds for a termination by a landlord in respect of substantial renovations or refurbishments. I do not oppose bringing it into law, but we might do so in the second Bill later this year.

On tenancies of indefinite duration, extending a Part 4 tenancy from four years to six has happened, but we need to go further.

The definition of "landlord" is critical, as it ensures a tenant has protection where a receiver has taken over the property. If the Deputies have ever spoken to someone in such a situation, they will know how stressful it is. We must address this issue. An interdepartmental working group is examining the matter and will finalise a report on it. When I receive that report, I hope to progress it and include it in the second Bill.

My apologies for rushing, but I find a number of elements of the Bill difficult to support, for example, changing the definition of a family member. If a property owner's father or grandfather becomes ill, the owner should have the right to let that person into the property without any charge and to serve a notice to quit, bearing in mind all of the relevant legal processes once the notice is served.

On aligning rent pressure zones with the consumer price index, we cannot force anyone to be a landlord and there must be a reasonable return to cover the annual costs he or she incurs in maintaining the property. There must also be a reward for the risks he or she takes. It does not look like landlords take risks in the current market, but consider what happened after the crash when many people were caught. If we want there to be stable investment in the market, the return needs to be linked with something stable. A 4% increase is not excessive and is a Steady Eddie. I see no need to go beyond it.

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