Carol Nolan: Warns Tenancy Amendments Are Driving Small Landlords Out

Minister, there are very serious and valid concerns regarding the residential tenancies amendment legislation and the impact particularly on private property rights and small-scale property owners or landlords. I have met many of these small-scale property owners in my offices in Bore and Tullamore and they are telling me quite clearly that they are leaving the rental market. I have also met tenants who have received notice to quit letters and I know that this is as a result of the legislation coming before us which is flawed and which unfairly punishes small property owners. What are we to do as TDs? Are we to advise tenants what do we do if they cannot get access to social housing, their income is too high, there are no affordable housing schemes, now there are less properties to rent. I know for fact now that there are many properties up for sale in towns like Bore, Bannehill, Tullamore, Edinderry and that wouldn't have happened were it not for this flawed legislation which went about punishing, unfairly punishing small-scale property owners. It's totally unfair and I have seen people as I say, they have been in the rental market for a long time, good people and they have been very fair with their tenants and it has worked very well. Now we have an absolute disaster unfolding. Unless you can get to grips with this and change the course quickly and amend this legislation, we are going to have an absolute catastrophe in terms of a greater shortage of rental properties. Which I can now see first hand and I am still getting a huge volume of emails from property owners and I know that many of them as I say are in the process of selling their homes. Those are gone out of the market now thanks to this flawed legislation. I do hope that government will see sense here, I really do, because I think it's wrong, I think the way you're going about it is wrong. I think there should have been fairness and there should have been a balance and I'm all for, as I say, having rental properties and fairness for tenants. I'm all for that but you have to be fair with the small-scale property owner as well. The proposed framework represents a disproportionate appropriation of rights from private citizens who have always paid their taxes and who have invested their life savings in some cases into the rental market. The move towards a rolling six-year tenancies and the virtual elimination of no-fault evictions for many providers effectively strips owners of their right to manage their own assets which they worked hard for to purchase in many cases. I'm talking about the small-scale property owner with three or less properties. It's unfair. It needs to be changed. We have a situation where we have acid seizure by regulation. By preventing owners from reclaiming their property for sale or personal use until a six-year mark, the government is essentially freezing private capital. This legislation forces small-scale property owners to carry the social burden of housing provision at the expense of their own financial security and liquid assets to their investments. Disincentivising the sector. The measures that we have here in this flawed legislation do not just target vulture funds. They punish private citizens or individuals who have worked hard to provide quality housing, who have obeyed the laws, who have worked within the parameters of RTB and who have been fair and good to their tenants. The message being sent here is that private property rights are secondary to political expediency and it's because there is a crisis that you're being too rash with decisions here and it's not properly thought out. I'm just asking for a review and an urgent review of this before we have an absolute disaster. Property owners deserve a fair return and the fundamental right to control their own assets without undue state interference. The control is overbearing and it is absolutely, it's really pushing people out, it's forcing small-scale property owners out of the market as I have stated. And many small-scale property owners have also stated to me that the security of tenure for some cannot come at the cost of other citizens and in terms of security of ownership. Like there has to be a balance. There's no balance struck here. From what I can see you've made rash decisions, ill-thought-out decisions. I'm asking for you to meet with small property owners and their organisation again that represents them because it's just not, it's not going to be a success. We're going to have chaos and I want you to tell me what I'm to tell tenants who are coming in to me very upset who can't qualify for social housing and there's no affordable housing schemes in County Offaly. What do I tell those people when the house that they lived in for many years happily and got on well with the property owner or landlord and everything went well and now we have this mess. And as I say, look, obviously we need solutions, we need affordable housing but we don't need to tackle this with the force you're tackling it with. I think it's unfair as I say. We should always ensure that the rights of all are respected and upheld and I feel that this legislation will most certainly deepen the housing crisis. I'm already seeing it with the volume of noticed quit letters coming in and the increase of properties for sale. As I say in many towns throughout Offaly now, people have had enough. They've had enough and they're not going to be dictated to by government when they've worked hard, paid their taxes all their lives and worked in jobs like teaching or nursing or worked maybe as a Garda. They're not going to be dictated to. It's unfair. So it needs to be reversed immediately. We're going to see an increase in homelessness due to the greater absence of rental properties in our market, which is now thanks to this legislation. This legislation has to be urgently amended because it is not a solution. It is an absolute disaster. It's a disaster for tenants who don't qualify for social housing and it's an absolute disaster for the small-scale property owners, many of whom are disillusioned and have decided to leave the rental market and sell their properties. It's a disaster. Go raibh mārgat.