Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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63. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the steps his Department is taking to increase the number of long-term private rental houses across the country. [53286/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Government continues to bring forward measures to boost supply across all tenures, including the private rental market. The recently revised National Planning Framework is a major step forward in this regard, and will help increase capacity and accelerate home building across the country, while the new Housing Activation Office will work to address barriers to the delivery of infrastructure projects needed to enable housing development.

Viability presents an ongoing challenge to the delivery of apartments, where a considerable gap has emerged between the cost of delivering apartment development and comparable general housing market prices. My Department is focussed on addressing viability issues in relation to apartment developments and measures to activate those planning permissions already in the system.

In June, the Government announced changes to the regulation of the rental market. The changes were aimed with attracting increased investment in the rental market, while also providing stronger protections for renters. The changes were announced following the submission of a report from the Housing Agency - ‘Review of Rent Pressure Zones and Potential Policy Options’, which recommended the modification of rent controls. From 1 March 2026, a national rent control will be introduced to all tenancies which will limit rent increases for properties, other than new build apartments, to inflation (CPI) up to a maximum of 2%. For new build apartments, rent increases will be capped at the level of inflation (2%), aimed at supporting investment in the construction of new apartments.

In order to stimulate new investment and keep existing landlords in the market, resetting of rents to market value for new tenancies (i.e. a first time tenancy between parties) created on or after 1 March 2026 will be allowed, subject to certain restrictions. Legislation to give effect to these policy changes is being developed by my Department in consultation with the Office of the Attorney General.