Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I did not interrupt the Senator so he should have the courtesy not to interrupt me.

Do we rush in to amend legislation to take out this proposed clause? That is why I am totally against it. I agree, however, that we need rent certainty. This has to be planned over a period.

Having been involved in the legal profession for over 25 years, I note that a person who is renting a commercial property can get a 20-year lease and five-year rent reviews, while all the internal work in the property is done by oneself. I refer to the provision of furniture, carpets and fittings, for example. We need to start moving in that direction in this country. I am not saying we are ready for it yet. It can be done over a gradual period. In Germany, for example, the landlord is not responsible for any of the fitting, be it of kitchens, bathrooms or otherwise, but he or she is still getting a return of 8% on the investment. The tenants have a quite low rent.

We still have a basic problem in this country, namely, the cost of building. We do not seem to have been able to deal with that . Why is it costing a lot more money to build in this country than in other jurisdictions? That is one of the issues we need to deal with.

We have a big problem in that there is a large cohort earning over €35,000 per annum but who will not qualify for a local authority house. At the same time, they will not be able to borrow, especially if living in an urban centre. This is a major problem, especially for the age group between 28 and 45, who lost out over the past ten years. For the foreseeable future or rest of their lives, they will be living in rented property. I am particularly concerned about people with young families. I came across a case in which a family with four children was suddenly asked to vacate but they could not find a property in the location in which they were living. Trying to move children to another primary school is difficult, especially if one's lease expires at the end of the year. Trying to move children to a new school in January or February because one cannot get accommodation where one was living is a big problem with which we must deal. We must be comprehensive in the way we deal with it. The approach will have to evolve over a period but we need to start planning now. This amendment will not do anything to stabilise rents.

We must determine how to keep people who are providing property in the market. Every day of the week I come across more and more people who bought property ten or 15 years ago and who were able to manage it during the downturn but who now want to get out of the market. They are going to wait another 12 months to two years, perhaps, before getting out. From 2008 to 2008, property was regarded as one's pension policy. People have now learned all of a sudden that if one wants to have this type of pension policy, there is a lot of work involved, including maintenance and responding to the requirements of tenants. We need a better way of thinking, from the perspectives of both the landlord and tenant, about individual responsibilities. I certainly do not believe this amendment will do anything to stabilise the rental market.