Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A number of Senators have raised the issue of the difficulties many people are having in regard to housing. I refer to both mortgages and the rental sector. We need a fundamental change in this whole area and to have a debate on it. One of my proposals is that legislation should be introduced to prevent banks from using family homes as collateral for commercial loans. That is one area we need to look at. We also need to look at the area of long-term letting. If one is renting a commercial premises in the private sector, one can get a 20 year lease with five-year rent reviews. Why can we not look at that in the case of family homes? Why must we have the current structure? While there have been some changes over the last 20 years, there has been no fundamental change. If one buys one's own home and can pay one's mortgage, one has security of tenure. If one goes into a local authority house, one can stay on for life as long as one pays one's rent and does not run into major difficulty with that local authority. However, if renting in the private sector one is left going from six-month period to six-month period.

We now have landlords trying to raise rents when they are not entitled to do so. We must put in place a proper structure so that if people want to stay on for a long period, they can do so. We need to have enough properties on the market to ensure there is consistency and security of tenure for people.There is a need for fundamental change in this area and we need to examine the possibility of introducing suitable legislation. It would be of assistance if the House could engage in a debate on the changes which might be brought about in the next six to 12 months.