Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien says landlords must be retained in the rental market. Oireachtas.ie

Tax measures may need review to keep landlords from exiting the rental market, says minister

Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien indicated that tax breaks may be needed to keep ‘mom-and-pop landlords’ from selling up.

TAX MEASURES MAY need to be looked in order to keep ‘mom-and-pop landlords’ from exiting the market, according to Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien. 

Speaking in the Dáil today, the housing minister acknowledged there was “an issue with a shrunken” market when it came to the availability of homes to rent. 

Concerns have been mounting about the lack of available rental stock around the country in recent months.

During a Dáil debate on rent and housing issues today, Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin raised concerns about the rising number of people in homelessness. 

He said the “shrinking number” of properties to rent is increasing the number of people presenting as homeless.

The minister told Ó Broin that he would be interested in hearing some of Sinn Féin’s parties plans and policies to help keep one-off and small landlords in the system. 

“We need to retain individual landlords in the system,” said the minister.

“That may require tax measures. I am assuming I will have your support to do to that potentially into the future,” said O’Brien. 

Landlords selling up

The Real Estate Alliance (REA) survey earlier this year found that landlords leaving the market accounted for almost one in four home sales in the last three months of 2021.

The group said changing legislation associated with the residential rental market had become a deterrent to non-institutional landlords, stating that the selling up of rental properties will put further pressure on the pool of property available for tenants.

In a recent parliamentary response, the housing minister said exiting of landlords from the private rental sector is a consequence of multiple factors.

“A changing regulatory environment, which has been necessary to ensure a fair and effective residential rental sector that balances tenants’ rights and landlords’ responsibilities, has resulted in a challenging compliance framework for some.

“Covid-related protections were also necessary but they may have contributed to the decision of some to leave the sector.

“In other cases, the recent rise in house prices has enabled some landlords to take the opportunity to exit negative equity. As a consequence, many have taken the opportunity to unwind their investment,” he said.

Out of control

During a debate on the rising cost of rent in the Dáil last night, Ó Broin said the rental market is continuing to spiral out of control.

“In Dublin we have seen the end of the Covid-19 flattening of rents, with a significant upward increase of 9% for new rents. This means that the average cost of a new rental in Dublin today is €23,634, which is an astonishing sum of money.

“If one tracks back through the Residential Tenancies Board reports, since 2011 rents in the capital have increased by more than 100%. They have increased by approximately 15% since the Minister took office,” he said.

“Behind all of these figures there are very real people. The impact of these rising rents is very severe. A significant number of renters, and particularly those who are losing rental tenancies and trying to secure new ones, are experiencing severe financial hardship,” he added. 

During a tetchy back-and-forth, the minister accused Ó Broin of “losing his temper again”, stating: “he cannot behave himself”.

“I never lose my temper. The Minister knows that,” replied Ó Broin, stating that “ownership declines every time Fianna Fáil is in government”.

O’Brien retorted: “It is not illegal for people to own their own homes.”

The minister said the Government had brought in a 2% cap on rent increases, which Sinn Féin supported.

“Sinn Féin has actually supported ten of the 11 pieces of legislation I have brought forward over the last 12 to 14 months. Despite this, according to Sinn Féin, we are doing everything wrong. There is a little bit of a contradiction there,” the minister pointed out.

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
57 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Me
    Favourite Me
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 9:39 PM

    Here lads. Someone has been injured in a seriously unpleasant attack. Is it really a place to be acting like two kids in a playground? Go do it somewhere else.

    174
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Adrian quinn
    Favourite Adrian quinn
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 9:51 PM

    Fair enough.

    47
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute BustingMyAss
    Favourite BustingMyAss
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 9:51 PM

    Well said, sorry I lost the run of myself.

    39
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Waffler
    Favourite Waffler
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 9:52 PM

    i simply made a comment about how the media sensationalises violence today when in reality we are a much safer society than not so long ago. naturally the victim has my sympathy. somehow adrian feels i should be murdered for expressing an observation

    52
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sharon Larkin
    Favourite Sharon Larkin
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 8:33 PM

    That’s terrible. Hope they catch the ones who did it.

    108
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Adrian quinn
    Favourite Adrian quinn
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 9:26 PM

    Utter nonsense. You did not see 3 fights every night you went out. You simply did not. A complete lie. You are an idiot. You should not be let near a computer. Not just for this comment, but for every other idiotic, badly spelt, uninformed comment you have posted in the past.

    104
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Waffler
    Favourite Waffler
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 9:34 PM

    walk across oconnell bridge in 1990 at 2am and get back to me. and the good news is i was stabbed twice in my teens, once with a syringe, the bad news for you is i lived

    23
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute BustingMyAss
    Favourite BustingMyAss
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 9:43 PM

    I remember Cork in the 80′s: fights were very common and people were quite baise about it. Gang fights were common: often you’d get 2-3 van loads of scumbags descending on rival estates for a royal rumble. This all died out when XTC hit in the early 90′s. You were more likely to get a hug walking home after that!

    74
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Shanti Om
    Favourite Shanti Om
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 8:48 PM

    Sending all the best to the victim. Here’s hoping the perpetrators are caught quickly.

    91
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute BustingMyAss
    Favourite BustingMyAss
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 9:43 PM

    Well said Om

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Waffler
    Favourite Waffler
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 10:35 PM

    ok this comment was removed so i’ll try again. for all those red thumbing me let me give you some perspective. when i was fifteen i was stabbed after a school football match in tolka park along with 7 of my classmates. when i was eighteen i was accosted by 3 men at a bus stop on abbey st. they made me empty my money at an atm before stabbing me with a syringe. neither incident got media coverage as they were common occurences back then. i’m glad we’ve progressed so much that these incidents are so rare that they make headlines. maybe you’ll delete this again but i’m baffled why

    75
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute M kenny
    Favourite M kenny
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 8:48 PM

    Wtf is Ireland becoming?

    51
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Waffler
    Favourite Waffler
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 9:11 PM

    you are joking? the fact that this makes the news shoe how much safer we are now than 20 years ago. when i started going out in dublin i would see at least 3 fights a night between grafton st and my bus on abbey st, rarely see any street violence these days

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Adrian quinn
    Favourite Adrian quinn
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 10:33 PM

    Waffler I’m sorry for that silly comment earlier. You are however misinterpeting the report. The news item simply stated that a woman had been stabbed. No sensationalism. Simply a news report. You appear at times to post here just for reaction. All under a psuedonym by the way.

    42
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Waffler
    Favourite Waffler
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 8:36 PM

    we have it good today, when i was growing up this happened day in day out

    16
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute
    Favourite
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 8:40 PM

    grew up where exactly waffler?

    hope the victim recovers.

    108
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Adrian quinn
    Favourite Adrian quinn
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 9:08 PM

    Tool

    87
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Adrian quinn
    Favourite Adrian quinn
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 9:08 PM

    Where do you live?

    39
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Waffler
    Favourite Waffler
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 9:08 PM

    blanchardstown in the 80s. theyd send in the army now if it was still like that

    23
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Waffler
    Favourite Waffler
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 9:29 PM

    wtf adrian?

    33
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brian M
    Favourite Brian M
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 10:12 PM

    My comment removed!? And I cheered for you in the convention centre last Thursday night…

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Waffler
    Favourite Waffler
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 10:15 PM

    i cant see why your comment was removed, please explain journal

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Waffler
    Favourite Waffler
    Report
    Nov 13th 2011, 10:24 PM

    and wheres my last comment gone? what the hell is going on?

    12
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds