Dáil debates

Tuesday, 10 December 2019

Rent Freeze (Fair Rent) Bill 2019: Second Stage [Private Members]

 

10:05 pm

Photo of Joan CollinsJoan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Connolly. The latest report on average rents in the private rental sector from daft.ierecords a new high of €1,400 a month nationally. This is the fourth year in a row that a new high has been recorded by daft.ie. Average rents nationally are up 5% over the past year and this is a fall from a 12% rise a year earlier. It is a reflection of the limited effect of rent cap zones, which I believe makes the case for a stronger, more effective measure which the Bill advocates in the form of a three-year national rent freeze. Even keeping rents at their existing level means people still face unaffordable rents in the private rental sector. The average rent in Dublin is now a staggering €2,044 a month. In Dublin 8, part of my constituency, rents are even higher. Since 2010, average rents in Dublin 8 have risen by 125%.

At the same time as we have a new record high in rents, we have a new record high in terms of the 10,514 people living in emergency accommodation. The housing charity Threshold has said this figure would be doubled were it not for the fact that it has assisted a further 11,500 people to keep their homes. The report for the year showed an average of 320 calls a day for assistance from tenants in the private rental sector. It also showed that 75% of notices of termination did not arise from wrongdoing by tenants. The main reason was that the property was being sold, often a bogus claim by landlords. Almost 50% of notices to quit were found to be invalid by the Residential Tenancies Board. There are exceptions but the housing crisis is increasingly giving rise to a new rapacious class of rack-renting landlords. We have a new phenomenon of mass evictions due to the entry of vulture and cuckoo funds into the market. The Minister said earlier that there were no new landlords coming on board. I just checked again on my phone. The report states that there were 170,282 registered with the RTB in 2015; that rose to 175,250 in 2016 and 176,251 in 2017. I could not get the figures for 2018 but it did mention that they would rise again. There is a solution which has been raised repeatedly by me and other Deputies in this Dáil. That solution is to use existing State-owned land at the low interest rates available through the European Investment Bank for a massive programme to build public housing for rent at affordable rents with proper security of tenure. As long as the Minister and this Government set their faces against such a programme, the crisis will continue. No amount of spinning the figures can disguise that fact. I will be voting for the Bill.

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