Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the clarity concerning the Disability Act. The proposals I have been discussing with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, for a combination retrofitting and adaptation grant is something I think would be very useful. We may still need more clarity on that but perhaps it would be covered by this. However, while I appreciate the placing may not work in that this applies to RPZs, the fundamental point I was talking about is not the matter of a tenant needing to leave for a period. It has always been the case with Part 4 that a tenant may need to leave but has the right to be offered a relet. The problem is that the price will change. As a result, this is about the rental pressures and the price change, and it is still a disincentive because a tenant may be offered a relet but not at the same rate, as I understand it. If there is an exemption to the limitations on the increase in rent under the rental pressure zone rules that is the problem. The Minister of State has described the planning permission and the fact it needs to be done by accredited persons. All of that is fine but it is still an issue if retrofitting or if a major energy rating overhaul of an apartment or house ends up effectively removing the rental protection and the rental rate protections a Part 4 tenant may have acquired or the protections they may have under the RPZ rules with respect to a limitation of potential increases in their rent. The key concern there is retrofitting as a social good. There is the named contractor and all of those elements, but it is still an issue if retrofitting creates a situation whereby the sustainability of somebody's tenancy and the price he or she is paying are placed in tension I urge the Minister of State to consider this, whether or not this placing is correct.

The RPZ section might be a good section to address this in. I framed it in terms of eviction where in fact it is not perhaps about eviction but a potential rise in rent to the point of a tenancy becoming unsustainable or unrenewable. This is an issue to be addressed because we need to have every positive measure towards retrofitting we possibly can.

With respect to the balancing of issues for landlords, the balance was different when this was inserted because now we are not just balancing the rights of a tenant and the rights of a landlord, we are balancing a social good and, indeed, a social cost if we do not retrofit as well as the rights of the tenant to energy security and home heating against the potential property rights or increased property prices of a landlord. The balance has shifted since these provisions were inserted and we need to reflect that in the policy.