Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1992 to provide for minimum Building Energy Rating (BER) standards for private rented accommodation and for related matters.

My office was first approached by the Irish Green Building Council about bringing in minimum BER standards for the private rented sector. I thank the council and Friends of the Earth which has also been supportive of us introducing this important legislation. The Bill makes it mandatory for private rented accommodation that is not BER exempt to have a minimum D2 BER by the end of 2026, a minimum C1 BER by the end of 2028 and a minimum B2 BER by the end of 2030. This would implement the Government's own commitments in Housing for All that, "A minimum BER for private rental property will be introduced, where feasible, from 2025." The 2020 programme for Government also promised to, "Take actions to drive energy-efficiency upgrades in rented properties..." Unfortunately, the Government seems to be reneging on those commitments, just like it is doing on other important climate commitments like the ban on importing fracked gas. Some 10% of our carbon emissions come from residential buildings so retrofitting is vital to achieving our climate targets. The new Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Lowry programme for Government, a government of landlords, by landlords, for landlords, is silent on BER standards and energy efficiency upgrades for private rented accommodation. All it says, vaguely, is, "Ramp up our targets to deliver more B2-equivalent home retrofits each year from 2026 to 2030, with a focus on lower income households."

It seems renters will not benefit even though they have much higher poverty rates than homeowners because it has deliberately taken out any mention of private rented accommodation. Last year, one in eight renters was living in consistent poverty compared with fewer than one in 50 homeowners while two thirds of people living in deprivation are renters. Continuing to exclude hundreds of thousands of renting families from retrofitting is outrageous. According to the Government's own roadmap for social inclusion to 2025 "... improving a building energy rating of a home from E1 to B2 can generate annual savings to the household of €2,524 per year." That was written before the massive increases in energy costs in the last few years so it is even more now. Energy companies are still hiking up prices. The Government already said there will be no energy credits. One in three people are being left to suffer in energy poverty. The Irish Green building Council explains that, "The physical and mental health consequences of energy poverty can have long lasting implications. Cold, damp, unventilated homes generate mould and dust-mites which can negatively affect a person’s respiratory system and exacerbate conditions such as asthma and allergies." Ireland has the highest rate of asthma in the EU - one in ten children currently has asthma and one in five will suffer from it at some point. We also have a high level of winter deaths directly related to fuel poverty and social class. We need this legislation to force landlords to retrofit because they cannot be bothered to do it themselves. They are not the ones suffering in freezing, damp homes and watching their wages fly up the chimney in high heating costs. In technical terms, it is known as a split incentive. They effectively have no incentive to invest in retrofitting these properties. They are eligible for the same grants as other property owners. They could avail of those under, for example, the national home energy upgrade scheme as well as low-interest home energy upgrade loans. On top of that, they are also entitled to deduct retrofitting expenses from their rental profits for taxation purposes. The example Revenue gives on its website shows that between grants and tax breaks, landlords would only have to pay out around €3,000 of a €20,000 retrofit but they still cannot be bothered. They are happy to sit back and watch record-high rents pile up in their bank accounts. This Bill recognises that fact and so introduces an obligation on landlords to retrofit. They have not taken the many carrots on offer so now need a stick.

The Bill also prohibits landlords from using retrofitting as an excuse to evict tenants or increase rents. This is crucial to ensure renters benefit from retrofits and are not penalised in any way. There must be no renovictions or rent increases. This Bill ensures retrofitting will be a win-win for renters who will have warmer, more comfortable homes, lower energy bills and society as a whole will benefit from reduced carbon emissions.

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