Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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5. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the action he is taking to tackle high rents in the private rental sector and the increasing unaffordability of rents in the Government-funded cost rental sector. [54230/25]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The programme for Government had a clear commitment to progressively increase the renters' tax credit. Obviously, that promise was broken in yesterday's budget and as a consequence the vast majority if not all of the renters' tax credit will be swallowed up by rental increases based on the most recent data from Daft. Likewise, an increasing number of people who apply for cost rental projects are refused access because they do not meet the affordability test. They earn too much to be eligible for social housing but enough to be eligible for the unaffordable cost rental rents.

Will the Minister tell us what is in budget 2026? What actions is he going to take to tackle the rip-off rents not only in the private sector but increasingly in the cost rental sector?

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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On 10 June 2025, the Government approved stronger tenancy protections and greater certainty for the rental sector, including the introduction of a national rent control. From 1 March 2026, a national rent control will be introduced for all tenancies, which will limit rent increases for properties other than new build apartments to inflation at CPI up to a maximum of 2% and for new build apartments rent increases will be capped at the level of inflation, aimed at supporting investment in the construction of new apartments.

As an interim measure, the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2025 was signed into law on 19 June 2025. The Act came into operation on 20 June 2025 to immediately extend and expand the operation of rent pressure zones to cover the entire country until 28 February 2026. This ensured that all tenancies nationally were protected from rent increases exceeding 2%, pending the introduction of a national rent control in 2026.

The Government is also committed to providing more affordable rental properties through the delivery of cost rental projects and all funded cost rental projects most achieve cost covering rents that are at least 25% below comparable local market levels. Nearly 4,000 cost rental homes have been delivered by AHBs, local authorities and the LDA since the launch of Housing for All and a strong pipeline is in place. The Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, was established as a quasi-judicial independent statutory body under the residential tenancies Acts to facilitate the resolution of residential tenancy disputes and operate a national tenancy registration system. Additional resources will be allocated to the RTB to ensure the effective regulation of the sector. To this end, I am very pleased to announce that in 2026 the Exchequer funding allocation for the RTB will be increased by over 70%, to €22.8 million.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Average rents for new tenants increased by over €1,000 last year and for existing renters by almost €800. Despite the Government's renter's tax credit, the majority of renters will either be worse off or marginally better off. When we change the legislation, however, those rent increases are going to be even more dramatic for people who move tenancy or enter into a new tenancy. One thing the Minister could do is to retrospectively apply his decision to exempt corporation tax on cost rentals to the 1,200 existing LDA tenants. The LDA and private providers - if that is the Minister's intention - should be forced to pass on those savings to their tenants. Will the Minister confirm whether the corporation tax exemption on cost rentals will be applied to existing LDA tenancies? Will he also set out what measures, if any, he is going to take to ensure the very significant savings that will accrue for new cost rental tenancies by the corporation tax waiver will be passed on to tenants, whether LDA or private sector cost rental providers?

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The changes will apply prospectively. That was made clear yesterday. In terms of the savings-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Prospectively or retrospectively? Apologies; I am not heckling.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Prospectively.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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So they will not apply to existing tenancies.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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They will apply to new tenancies where designated as cost rental. The LDA sought this change so that it could deliver lower rents for people and that is why we agreed to it. As it is a cost rental measure, I fully expect, even through the metrics of the system, that it will result in lower rents for future tenancies.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The potential saving for a cost-rental tenant paying an average rent of €1,500 per month would be €225. That is €2,700 a year. I hope that he would insist rather than expect that the LDA provides that. Equally, the VAT reductions on apartments could also be a helpful way for reducing the rent if the VAT reduction is passed on to the AHB or LDA through Project Tosaigh or forward purchase. Is the Minister going to insist that the €20,000 or so reduction in costs to a developer will be passed on to any AHB or the LDA entering into a forward purchase agreement? Will he clarify how the VAT reduction is going to work for AHBs and the LDA when, for example, they are forward funding as opposed to forward purchasing? It simply makes no sense for the State to provide this VAT exemption for apartments currently under construction if the LDA or AHBs, which are funded by the Department, are not benefiting from a very significant reduction in costs.

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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All of the details around the various tax breaks, which Minister Donohoe worked on with the Department of housing to ensure we can increase the viability of apartments and get them and housing in general delivered, will be worked out over the coming weeks and then announced.

The purpose of the tax cuts is to bring about that viability so that we can get apartments that people need built. Off plan, there are over 40,000 apartments in Dublin that are ready to go but are not being built because they are not viable. The LDA was created to ensure that the cost rental model was there for people to able to benefit from it. The LDA will continue to ensure that this is the case.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Will the cost reductions to the developers be passed on to the LDA, yes or no?