Brian Stanley: Warns New Rent Proposals Will Fuel Soaring Rents
Brian Stanley criticised the Government's new rent proposals, arguing they remove controls on new tenancies and will push already high rents even higher. He warned the changes would make housing unaffordable for families and workers, increase evictions and benefit landlords.
The deputy said the announced changes leave no controls for new bills or for tenancies when they change over, creating a "free for all" that will allow landlords to raise rents at turnover. He argued this will drive rents beyond what ordinary people can afford and escalate already high prices.
He said most tenancies end voluntarily but that when tenancies change over landlords will be free to set new rents, pushing many households out of the market. He warned of a rise in so-called fault evictions as tenants fall behind on rent, and highlighted examples of very high asking rents - charging rents up to €3,000 within the pail and over €2,000 outside the pail - which he said are unaffordable for families and workers on modest incomes.
He referenced a DAF report showing rapid rent increases in Leish outside Dublin, and cited figures on stock that he said showed numbers had increased from €1,016 to €1,022 up by €45,000. He also invoked a commission report that recommended reference rents based on location and family size, index-linked increases and accounting for energy rating, saying those recommendations were ignored.
He told the minister the package announced by Government was a "recipe for chaos" for families and workers, predicting higher rents, greater evictions and a worsened affordability crisis unless controls such as reference rents were adopted.
Main criticism
The deputy said the announced changes leave no controls for new bills or for tenancies when they change over, creating a "free for all" that will allow landlords to raise rents at turnover. He argued this will drive rents beyond what ordinary people can afford and escalate already high prices.
Impact on tenants and evictions
He said most tenancies end voluntarily but that when tenancies change over landlords will be free to set new rents, pushing many households out of the market. He warned of a rise in so-called fault evictions as tenants fall behind on rent, and highlighted examples of very high asking rents - charging rents up to €3,000 within the pail and over €2,000 outside the pail - which he said are unaffordable for families and workers on modest incomes.
Evidence cited
He referenced a DAF report showing rapid rent increases in Leish outside Dublin, and cited figures on stock that he said showed numbers had increased from €1,016 to €1,022 up by €45,000. He also invoked a commission report that recommended reference rents based on location and family size, index-linked increases and accounting for energy rating, saying those recommendations were ignored.
Consequences and warning
He told the minister the package announced by Government was a "recipe for chaos" for families and workers, predicting higher rents, greater evictions and a worsened affordability crisis unless controls such as reference rents were adopted.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
Other speeches
Tego samego dnia All speeches from this day →
Mattie McGrath
Mattie McGrath Challenges Minister on Airbnbs and Social Housing
Mattie McGrath
Mattie McGrath: Demands More Funding for Social Housing Returns
Paul Murphy
Paul Murphy warns Bill would abolish the triple lock
Danny Healy-Rae
Danny Healy-Rae: Cut taxes and free up vacant rural houses
Paul Murphy
Paul Murphy says government is 'gutting' rent pressure zones
Paul Murphy
Paul Murphy: Calls for Safeguarding, Blames Nursing Home Privatisation
Transcript
There are a lot of things I could say about housing and I was going to talk about something different today but obviously because of the announcement by Government I feel compelled to to comment on these on the new rent proposals. The new restrictions such as they are or the changes are there in fact will mean that there is no controls for new bills, no control for new tenancies when tenancies change over. This is going to drive up already sky high rents minister. You know this is really going to increase them further. They are going way beyond what ordinary people can afford. Most tenancies end voluntarily, people move on, people get housed by local authority, they purchase a house maybe, they move to new rental accommodation or they have to go to a larger house because of how many size or the other side would be to downsize and some people are just emigrating, they are giving up. So all of those tenancies when they change over it is a free for all in terms of what landlords can do with their rents. The DAF report last year showed that Leish had the fastest increase in rents outside of Dublin. Renting a house or apartment were being told by some that there was a problem with profitability. You know pull the other one. You know there is nobody really believes that. Charging rents are up to €3,000 within the pail and over €2,000 outside the pail. You know there are huge profits being made there. That is €36,000 a year, €36,000 in rent alone for a bog standard house. So families and workers who are on €500 a week, they simply cannot afford that. You know one week's rent is completely wiped out. There is a myth as well that the number of actual units is decreasing. It has increased from €1,016 to €1,022 up by €45,000 and the evidence since as I understand it shows that as well. The commission report which I referred to for a minute that set out a need for reference rents which you ignored based on location, family size. I raised with him again today at the committee to clarify what they were saying. The average rent in the area and it would be just index linked increases. The energy rating as well would be counted. That at least was some kind of a half decent proposal. What we have now instead is what has been set out by the government today and what will happen is it will drive up those rents way beyond what ordinary families can afford. And there will be evictions because people, there will be no no fault evictions, but there will be so called fault evictions because people will not be able to pay the rent. So they're going to owe so much rent, landlords will be able to get them out and then they're free. There's another group of houses and flats that can be where the rents can be increased. This is a recipe for chaos for families and workers, Minister.