Paul Murphy proposes bill to protect tenants' deposits
Paul Murphy introduced a bill to protect tenants' deposits, calling deposit theft a common and damaging form of theft and arguing deposits should be lodged with the RTB. He said the bill would enact the government's 2015 legislation to create a deposit protection scheme and criticised successive governments for failing to implement it.
Deposit theft accounts for almost one in five cases taken to the Residential Tenancies Board and is the second biggest reason tenants bring cases. In 2021 the RTB found in tenants' favour in 94% of cases and ruled that the deposit should be fully or partially refunded.
Murphy highlighted the unequal wealth gap between landlords and renters, citing CSO figures that owner-occupiers have average net wealth of about €304,000 while renters average €5,300. He said deposits of €1,000 or €2,000 are often the only savings renters have and described constituent cases where stolen deposits led to emergency homeless accommodation or repeated threats of eviction.
He accused successive governments of inaction despite earlier commitments, noting promises since 2011 and legislation passed in 2015 that was never enacted. He quoted Housing for All acknowledging that deposit retention can cause serious hardship and pointed to Action 2.12, which since 2021 has been to examine an international-informed holding system but has not been implemented.
The bill would require landlords to lodge tenants' deposits with the RTB, which would adjudicate disputes instead of landlords holding deposits. Murphy said this would remove a power landlords use to coerce tenants and prevent deposit retention being used to block access to alternative accommodation.
He also called for radical reform of the RTB to include tenants' union representation and argued for prosecution of criminal landlords who steal deposits, force tenants to live in slum conditions or evict illegally. He described the bill as a small first step toward justice for renters and criticised the current government's stance on tenant protections.
Deposit theft scale
Deposit theft accounts for almost one in five cases taken to the Residential Tenancies Board and is the second biggest reason tenants bring cases. In 2021 the RTB found in tenants' favour in 94% of cases and ruled that the deposit should be fully or partially refunded.
Impact on renters and homelessness
Murphy highlighted the unequal wealth gap between landlords and renters, citing CSO figures that owner-occupiers have average net wealth of about €304,000 while renters average €5,300. He said deposits of €1,000 or €2,000 are often the only savings renters have and described constituent cases where stolen deposits led to emergency homeless accommodation or repeated threats of eviction.
Failed government action and Housing for All
He accused successive governments of inaction despite earlier commitments, noting promises since 2011 and legislation passed in 2015 that was never enacted. He quoted Housing for All acknowledging that deposit retention can cause serious hardship and pointed to Action 2.12, which since 2021 has been to examine an international-informed holding system but has not been implemented.
Proposed scheme and RTB role
The bill would require landlords to lodge tenants' deposits with the RTB, which would adjudicate disputes instead of landlords holding deposits. Murphy said this would remove a power landlords use to coerce tenants and prevent deposit retention being used to block access to alternative accommodation.
Calls for stronger enforcement
He also called for radical reform of the RTB to include tenants' union representation and argued for prosecution of criminal landlords who steal deposits, force tenants to live in slum conditions or evict illegally. He described the bill as a small first step toward justice for renters and criticised the current government's stance on tenant protections.
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Transcript
I'm introducing this bill to protect tenants' deposits today because it's one of the most common and one of the most damaging forms of theft. But it's a type of theft that goes almost always unpunished. Landlords stealing their tenants' deposits. Deposit theft accounts for almost one in five cases taken to the RTB. It's the second biggest reason that cases are taken by tenants. In 2021, the RTB found in tenants' favour in 94% of cases and ruled that their deposit should be fully or partially refunded by the landlord. Anyone who has ever rented in this country will have a story of how their landlord stole some or all of their deposit. It's so commonplace that Threshold describe it as a normal experience. What makes this everyday injustice all the more disgusting is that it involves landlords who are much better off than their tenants stealing from people on far, far lower incomes than them. According to the CSO, the average net wealth of owner-occupiers is nearly €304,000. Landlords, by definition, almost always own more than one property so their wealth will be much, much higher than that. Compare that to renters. Their average net wealth is only €5,300. And for many renters, a deposit of €1,000 or €2,000 is the only savings that they might have. The only thing standing between them and homelessness. I'm frequently contacted by constituents who are facing or actually in homelessness because a greedy landlord or estate agent stole their deposit. One mother whose landlord stole her deposit is now living in emergency homeless accommodation and cannot afford to take her landlord to court to get her money back. The RTB has refused to help, apparently because the landlord never registered the tenancy. They keep telling her to contact Threshold who in turn send her back to the RTB. Her and her child are now trapped in homeless accommodation because a greedy landlord stole the only savings she had. I also have cases of constituents reliant on homeless HAP where the local authority provided them with the deposit but now the landlord or the letting agent has stolen it and they are being refused money for a second deposit. They are threatened with homelessness because they don't have the money themselves for a new deposit and the council won't provide it. In another case a landlord is threatening to steal a tenant's deposit unless she moves out on the date on the notice to quit regardless of whether that notice is legal or not. Threatening to steal a deposit is a means of coercion for landlords who do it to evict tenants and dissuade them from taking cases to the RTB. Of course this government, successive governments before it, know all of this. Fianna Fáil and Fianna Gael governments have been promising to introduce a deposit protection scheme since 2011. It was legislated for in 2015 but then never enacted. Housing for All acknowledges that, quote, deposit retention can cause serious hardship for tenants as many will require the return of their deposit in order to access alternative rental accommodation. Action 2.12 of Housing for All, sitting there since 2021, was to, quote, examine the creation of a system of holding rental deposits informed by international experience. But still they have chosen not to act. Why? Because they are a government of landlords, by landlords, for landlords. They are a government that is now waging war on tenants, threatening to rip up the rent pressure zones and signalling to landlords and vulture funds to let it rip even more than they have already. My bill would enact the government's own 2015 legislation to set up a deposit protection scheme managed by the RTB. Instead of landlords holding tenants' deposits and using them as a form of power over tenants, all deposits would instead be lodged with the RTB, which would adjudicate over any disputes. Of course, we also want to see radical reform of the RTB. Tenants' unions should be represented so the dispute resolution system is not stacked against tenants and in favour of landlords. I would like to see landlords who rob their tenants, force them to live in slum conditions or evict them illegally, prosecuted and sent to prison. Most ordinary people would agree that there are few worse crimes than making people homeless, yet the legal system treats criminal landlords with kid gloves. This bill is a very small first step towards justice for renters. Really, only a landlord or a landlord's government would object to it.