Seanad debates

Friday, 26 March 2021

Residential Tenancies Bill 2021: Second Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of Mary Seery KearneyMary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

From the outset of the Covid-19 crisis, the Government, under the Fine Gael leader and then Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, moved to protect tenants affected by the unavailability of the opportunity to move property and, more crucially, their inability to work. Crucial protections were needed against people's inability to pay their rent brought about by the Covid-19 crisis. That is the origin of today's legislation.

The Bill before this House extends all those protections that have been repeatedly extended until April. Today's Bill extends those protections and goes further, however, and decouples those protections from the need for us to be in level 5, particularly for people who are in arrears due to the Covid-19 crisis.

The protections will, therefore, still be in place for those who are adversely affected by the financial impacts of Covid-19 and are unable to pay their rent. The protections for tenants financially impacted are extended until 12 July. Nothing about that prohibits us from coming back in. While in the grips of a pandemic, it is right that we are proportionate and responsible in how we deal with extended and enhanced protections for any sector of any market. Those in arrears are more likely to be in low-income industries or those industries most affected, such as hospitality and retail. They have been disproportionately impacted and their protections have now been decoupled from the level 5 requirement.

This Bill does not protect tenants who refuse to pay rent but can, or tenants who engage in antisocial behaviour, making the lives of people around them miserable. Tenants who are in arrears due to the financial impact of Covid-19 can make a declaration that puts them on the road to enhanced protections that were made before Christmas in the 2020 Bill. According to Threshold, that brings in anyone in receipt of the temporary wage subsidy or any social welfare payment or State support paid because they lost earnings due to Covid-19, including the pandemic unemployment payment, rent supplement and supplementary welfare allowance.

This Bill seeks to balance the rights of those who own properties and rent them out with the rights of tenants. Landlords include a large cohort of people who are landlords by accident and some who have invested in one property as a pension plan.Their property rights cannot be disregarded altogether. If we are to maximise the property market choices, we need private landlords as well as the State and the approved housing bodies. Many of these private landlords are relying on income from rent to earn their own living and pay their own bills. It would be reckless of this Parliament to bring forward a Bill that does not balance those rights and that relies on an Article 26 reference to the Supreme Court by the President. That would be an abdication of our role as legislators.

Outside these enhanced protections, if tenants fall into arrears their landlord must serve them with 28 days' notice to quit and if they do not address those arrears in a mutually agreeable fashion, they get a further 28 days' notice. There are protections in place. If the landlord does not validly serve the notice or act in accordance with the statutory requirements, the tenant can refer these matters to the RTB. These rights are supported outside of Covid and were there prior to Covid. Where arrears are not involved, the length of notice is directly proportionate to the length of the tenancy and ranges from 28 days to just over six months. In addition, we have rent pressure zones and a prohibition of rent increases of more than 4%.

Let us be clear: it is not ideal to be renting. Tenure does not last long enough, despite the provision of six months' notice. We need additional housing and approved housing. I am optimistic about the changes that will come from the Land Development Agency and the affordable housing Bill. Fine Gael has presided over increased housing supply while in government, although it entered office when the country was in a ruinous position. Senator Fitzpatrick seems to have selective amnesia about that matter in light of her constant digs about the lack of housing, which was due to the lack of money for the first number of years when Fine Gael was in government.

I welcome the Bill. It restores rights to where they were prior to Covid and it also keeps in place the enhanced protections for people who are in arrears because of Covid.

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