Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputies Quinlivan and Mitchell.

In some senses, this is a Bill of two parts. Part of it is very welcome, namely, that relating to the new protections for all tenants, as the Minister outlined. That is included as a result of the strong campaign by the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, and the cross-party Opposition Private Members' Bill on that matter, tabled during Sinn Féin's time, which I will return to in a moment. Nevertheless, as I said on the previous occasion the Minister brought forward an extension of the very limited and restrictive Covid-19 protections from the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Act, it is disappointing he still does not accept that there is a larger group of tenants than those he has currently protected who need assistance, another matter I will expand on in a moment.

I will deal separately with the two parts of the Bill. The USI some months ago approached both the Minister and the Opposition party housing spokespersons and urged us to act. The situation whereby students can be often forced to pay three, six or nine months' rent in advance was exposed for its flaws when many of those students and their families were unable to recoup that money when they were unable to take up student accommodation because of Covid-19 restrictions last year. The fact that the Opposition united around that USI campaign, tabled the legislation we did and secured the full support of the House, and the Minister, to his credit, has fast-tracked key elements of that legislation in the Bill before us, shows the case the USI was making was not only eminently fair but needed to be acted on urgently. That the Minister is today introducing those key protections for all renters, as he outlined, is very welcome. No renter in future will be asked for more than one month's rent and one month's deposit in advance, and no student will be left unable to recoup more than 28 days' rent if the student-specific tenancy has to be terminated early. They are very welcome measures, and while the Minister and I have many disagreements, one of which we are about to have in the context of this debate, I give him credit where it is due that he is bringing them forward.

I have two concerns with the provisions before the House and ask the Minister to examine them urgently. With respect to the provision regarding one month's rent and one month's deposit, a tenant can make a complaint that the landlord is not complying with that new rule only if the tenant takes up the tenancy. If he or she does not or cannot do so, there will be no ability for the Residential Tenancies Board to investigate that independently because there will be no tenant's complaint. I ask the Minister to reconsider that matter when he comes forward with the residential tenancies amending Bill in the autumn.

I am even more concerned by the opt-out that, as presented by the Minister, would allow a student voluntarily to pay more than one month's rent and one month's deposit in advance. I understand from briefings his officials gave to members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage that there is a very specific reason for that, namely, that international students often pay for a comprehensive package of tuition, materials and accommodation from universities here. That is fully understandable and those students clearly should be exempt from these provisions. I also understand the Minister's officials are working on further amendments to the Bill they will bring forward in the autumn.

My worry is that between now and the introduction of those amendments, there could be some unscrupulous student-specific landlords, possibly in the private sector, who will try to apply informal pressure on students chasing much-needed student accommodation to "voluntarily" pay more than the required sum. I urge both the Minister and the Residential Tenancies Board to be vigilant on this matter. I have spoken to the USI and it is going to highlight the need for vigilance. If any student-specific accommodation provider tries to exert that type of pressure - I hope none will - I would like to think the full force of the Residential Tenancies Board, as well as condemnation from the Government and the Opposition, will be brought to bear in order that students will be fully protected until that matter is resolved when further amendments are tabled in the autumn.

With respect to the extension of the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Act protections for what the Minister calls the most vulnerable of those affected by Covid-19, he will know from the most recent Residential Tenancies Board data that only 475 renters of 200,000 rental tenancies not accessing supports such as housing assistance payment, HAP, or the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, have availed of that protection. He will also know that since he ended the blanket protection on evictions and notices to quit in August last, almost 4,000 rent warning letters have been issued from landlords to tenants who have fallen into arrears. During that same period, accelerating particularly in the past three months, 1,122 notices to quit have been issued, not solely for rent arrears but also for other matters.

The problem with this protection the Minister is extending, welcome and all as it is for those who can avail of it, is that many vulnerable tenants, including those affected by Covid, do not fit the criteria for this protection and will be excluded. The process is incredibly complex and cumbersome, which leads many of us, not just in the Opposition but also in organisations such as Threshold, to believe there are tenants who would qualify for this protection but, for a variety of reasons, cannot or will not avail of it.

My main concern, judging by the Residential Tenancies Board figures, is that now that the level 5 restriction on evictions relating to the 5 km travel limit has been lifted since 22 April, those 1,122 notices to quit will start working their way through the system, and there could be a slow, steady and deeply unfortunate increase in the number not only of evictions but also of presentations and entries into emergency accommodation. I urge the Minister to reconsider expanding those protections to ensure that anybody affected by Covid, irrespective of whether they are getting a Covid-19 payment or whether they have submitted a written declaration, will get Covid-19 protections, at a minimum, until the end of this year from both rent increases and notices to quit. I have spoken to many tenants throughout the country who have asked me to convey this to the Minister, and I urge him to examine it.

It is also disappointing that the Bill does not deal with the 8% rent increases that were always possible under the original rent pressure zone legislation but are particularly relevant now because many landlords will not have increased last year, for a variety of reasons. Moreover, tenants, particularly since the ban on evictions was lifted on 27 April, are being hit with two years' rent increases rolled into one. An increase of 4% a year is bad enough but 8% is unconscionable, and I thought this would have been the time to do that. Again, I urge the Minister to support, or at least consider, the amendments I have tabled to achieve that.

Sinn Féin will not oppose the Bill. We support all its provisions, although we are disappointed by the limited nature of the Covid-19 protections. The broader point has to be made that there remains a crisis in the private rented sector. Rents are still much too high for far too many renters. There have been very dramatic rent increases in recent months outside of Dublin and in areas that traditionally had lower levels of rent. Therefore, not only does Sinn Féin strongly believe that for Covid-19 reasons there should be a ban on evictions and notices to quit until the end of the year for all tenants other than those breaching contract and wilfully not paying rent when they are able to do so, we still believe there is a need for an emergency three-year ban on rent increases. Renters simply cannot take any more.

We also need to find a way of reducing rents. We have found that the simplest and quickest way to do that is through a refundable tax credit worth one month's rent.

This was something which was supported by Fianna Fáil, albeit in a more limited form, during last year's general election campaign. We urge the Minister to revisit that in the context of budget 2022 in October. We also need to see an urgent move to tenancies of indefinite duration. I appeal to the Minister, when he brings forward his legislation in the autumn, to introduce real tenancies of indefinite duration. That would mean ending the six-year cut-off point for Part 4 tenancies and, crucially, removing most grounds currently contained in section 34 of the Residential Tenancies Act, so that the only grounds upon which a tenant could be served a notice to quit would be for breach of contract, non-payment of rent, damage of property or anti-social behaviour, etc. All of the other section 34 grounds - sale of property, use by landlord, use by family member - have no place in a modern rental system and must be phased out.

I appeal to the Minister to do far more in terms of the level of investment in genuinely affordable cost-rental accommodation. A few hundred units per year will not cut it. We need to see thousands and thousands of genuinely affordable cost-rental units delivered annually by local authorities, approved housing bodies and others, each year starting from next year. While the cost-rental equity loan is welcome, it is far too small. The 390 units it will provide this year and next year are welcome, but the scheme is too limited. We need much more ambition. I look forward to what the Minister has to say on that come budget day.

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