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IRELAND’S RENTAL SECTOR and the ever-soaring rental prices have been a major topic of conversation in recent years, and now survey on the sector is going to be carried out.
The Residential Tenancies Board has issued a tender for annual surveys of the rental sector in Ireland.
The survey, according to its tender description, will help to develop a detailed and up to date profile of the sector that can be used by the RTB and other key stakeholders as an input to policy making and to inform the management and regulation of the sector.
The RTB provides information to tenants, landlords and the general public on their rights and obligations, in terms of both living and providing accommodation in the rental sector.
In a statement, the RTB said: “The annual survey is a vehicle for enhancing the knowledge of the sector, hearing from stakeholders and understanding the changing profile of the sector.
“It will be a central pillar of the research programme and a major project for the RTB.”
The RTB is in the procurement phase and expects that a tender will be awarded in the second quarter of 2019, with a timeline for delivery agreed.
All private residential landlords and Approved Housing Bodies are obliged to register their tenancies with the RTB. At the end of 2016, there were 325,000 tenancies registered.
The RTB also deals with the majority of disputes between landlords and tenants through its Dispute Resolution Service.
The board has said that one of the key roles it plays in housing policy in Ireland is “providing an understanding of the rental market”.
The government’s Rebuilding Ireland action plan published in 2016 committed to the “introduction of annual surveys of tenants and landlords to understand better the profile of the sector, changes to supply and the impact of new policy”.
A tender has now been issued for the roll out of the survey.
Renting in Ireland
Renting in Ireland is becoming more expensive by the month but the rate of increase is slowing thanks to rent pressure zones, according to the RTB’s latest Rent Index report published in December.
It reports the national average rent was €1,122 per month, up from €1,044 one year earlier. Dublin remains the most expensive place to rent with average monthly prices now at €1,620, representing an increase of €141 from the same period last year.
The RTB Rent Index is compiled in conjunction with the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). It has shown that rent increases for existing tenancies (5.4%) were lower than those for new tenancies (8%).
This indicates that Rent Pressure Zones are having a slowing effect on the level of increase.
Rent Pressure Zone (RPZs) laws were first introduced in December 2016 by then-Housing Minister Simon Coveney to tackle spiralling rents.
Under the legislation, annual rent rises were capped at 4% in certain areas.
RPZs are located in areas of the country where rents are highest and where households have the greatest difficulty finding affordable accommodation.
In November, a number of politicians heavily criticised the laws surrounding RPZs.
“Rent Pressure Zones are clearly not working for new entrants to the rental market or people who have to move,” Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin said.
Echoing the words of Ó Broin, Labour’s housing spokesperson Jan O’Sullivan TD said that RPZs are “clearly not working”.
“Quite simply, RPZs are not working and must be scrapped. What we need instead is a nationwide control on rents that links them to the cost of living as Labour proposed in a Bill that was voted down by the government more than two years ago,” O’Sullivan said.
With reporting by Garreth MacNamee
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To tell us private landlords are leaving
450k property, 270k deposit. 180k deposit. Property yield 6%. Landlord makes zero profit. Actually makes a loss because the 270k could be in the bank earning 2% per annum (5400 EUR)
@John Horan: Sold my house in October that had accommodated 4 adults for 12 years. Pocketable income over that time = €0. So yes it’s true. Tenants looking for accommodation at the moment are chasing an ever decreasing supply.
@John Horan: I agree with point that many landlords don’t make money but not sure where you are banking to get 2%. Most banks are only paying 0.05%
@Paraic: Maybe no income but surely the mortgage was payed for you?
@John Horan: What bank is offering the 2% John?
@dublindamo: https://www.medirect.com.mt/save/fixed-term-deposit
fully deposit guaranteed, in the EU and accepts customers from Ireland.
@Rob Cahill: After 12 years on a 30 year mortgage you will hardly have made a dint in the capital. Additionally it is not a sound business model to invest only for capital appreciation, it should generate income. Hence I and many others sold up and got out.
Yippie, fantastic strategy and vision by our leaders. Take an extra six months to complete it lads and sure add another 200k in expenses. You’re great lads altogether and don’t mind the fact that every euro you waste can help buy social housing or temporary accommodation.
Ireland’s rental sector is summed up in this.
In 2014 I left an apartment in Ballybrack I was renting as the landlord upped the rent from €1000 to €1400. Was checking daft the other day for a friend and happened to see that said apartment is up for rent now at €2400 per month. that’s Ireland’s renal sector summed up.
@Roy Dowling: Wow! That is shocking but not surprising. Some landlords are richer beyond their wildest dreams, no matter what some people will tell you!
Is this survey going to tell us things we don’t already know??…..Things we’ve known for years!
It’s f****d. Survey done
Ill save the country millions on this quango
Rental sector = ABSOLUTE JOCKER
Jus send me couple grand I’m not greedy
What a joke any one can see on renting website like daft that how agents and landlord charging the rent. There is no space for 4% increase everyone charging as per their own choice.
The property market in Ireland is one big speculation that is involving multinational funds and big money. Additionally, it makes the living conditions in this country very poor and is causing out the Boom-Bust cycle of the economy. It would be beneficial to everyone if someone could fix it.
Rental sector in Dublin is out of control and not regulated enough! Airbnb damaging the system in ways not yet known to the Government. Fraudulent activity rampant on the DAFT website with gangsters luring people to pay money on the Airbnb website to secure a property they don’t even get a chance to see. And last but not least, developers buying up land and property for the rental market ONLY because that is where the big money is these days. Oh yeah. I nearly forgot…Some landlords are richer beyond their wildest dreams, affording such luxury lives never envisaged before!! This is the rental market in Dublin 2019. Survey done. No need to pay me.
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