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A GROUP REPRESENTING Irish landlords has said it is “delighted to see” Taoiseach Micheál Martin signal possible changes to Rent Pressure Zones.
The Irish Property Owners Association has said Martin’s comments yesterday show that the Taoiseach has “recognised that rent pressure zones haven’t worked”.
Rent Pressure Zones (RPZ) are in parts of the country where rents are highest and rising, and where households have the greatest difficulty finding affordable accommodation.
Rents in an RPZ cannot be increased by more than 2% per year.
They were first introduced in Dublin and Cork in 2016 for a period of three years, but RPZs have since been expanded across the country.
They were to remain in place until 31 December 2024 but last May, the Government agreed to extend them until 31 December 2025.
Speaking yesterday, Martin noted that RPZs expire at the end of the year and added: “We have time in between to say: ‘can we develop an alternative system which protects renters but also enables people to have a clear, stable environment in which to invest’.”
Today on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, IPOA chairperson Mary Conway said that Martin’s comments yesterday show that “the Taoiseach has recognised that rent pressure zones haven’t worked”.
Conway said that while RPZs “were supposed to protect tenants, it’s driven landlords out of the system and has given tenants less choice”.
“This was a temporary measure in 2016 and the government just kicked the can down the road further and further because they don’t want to make decisions,” added Conway.
She said that the “main reason landlords are leaving is because of the rent pressure zones and also indefinite tenancies”.
“There’s been a one size fits all slapped on all landlords up and down the country,” said Conway, “and we know it’s just not working.”
In December 2024, the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), which regulates Ireland’s rental market, said that the number of private landlords increased by 5.7% annually to 104,327.
It also noted that the number of private landlords had increased in every quarter from Q2 2023 across most sizes of property portfolio from 1 to 100+ tenancies.
However, Conway said her organisation “questions” these RTB figures because “there was a problem with data and registration in the initial stages, which is still being sorted out”.
“We know from our members and from estate agents that landlords are leaving, and the reasons they’re leaving is because of rent pressure zones,” said Conway.
She added: “In the current system, when a landlord sells a property, a new investor isn’t going to buy it if it’s stuck in a rent pressure zone on a very low rent.
“We would suggest that if long-term rent tenants leave, or if a property has been sold, that rents would revert to market rent, and that would do something to stabilise the rental market.”
Conway also said that the IPOA is “very willing to sit down with the government and look at what reference rent would look like”.
The Housing Commission recommended that a system of “reference rents” be established in a report it published last July.
The system of “reference rents” would peg rent increases to a reference rent for local dwellings of similar quality.
The Housing Commission said such a reference should be reviewed at regular intervals.
“Rent would not rise more than a certain percentage above this reference rent over a specific period,” noted the Housing Commission.
It added that unsubsidised market rental dwellings should solely inform reference rents and that the percentage rent increase allowed should take account of relevant factors such as “management and maintenance costs, interest rates, household incomes and affordability”.
Threshold CEO John-Mark McCafferty told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that it would “take some time and a lot of data and a lot of analysis to arrive at how that system might work”.
He said that Threshold is “very mindful that over the last 12 years, rents have increased without pause, and that RPZs have tried to protect the excesses of rental hikes, but rents have still increased”.
“That return of 2% is still a very favourable return compared to a lot of financial products,” said McCafferty.
“We have to balance the need to protect renters with the other considerations around the market.”
Elsewhere, Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin has today said that in recent weeks, “there has been a very aggressive lobby by institutional investors seeking to have the RPZ regulations scrapped”.
He said such a move would result in “even more dramatic increases in rents than we have seen in recent years”.
“The latest data from the Residential Tenancies Board shows that rents for both new and existing renters are significantly higher than the RPZ 2% cap,” said Ó Broin.
He added that “rent regulation is not the reason for sluggish new housing supply and that “renters should not have to foot the bill for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael’s Failures in housing”.
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I don’t have access to a medical card either…just saying
@John Horan: that article is absolutely misleading anyone in the direct care of the Government has access to free medical care this applies to people in prison ,juvenile homes or direct provision . The fact that they don’t hold a physical card does not deprive them of any service.
@DavidOReilly: Insult to injury……. criminals get free healthcare whilst the workers pay for it for them and also have to pay for themselves
@DavidOReilly: people in the care of the state have a physical medical card. They cannot get free health care without it. A pharmacy will not issue medicine for free if you don’t have a card. The article is referring to the lack of services and support workers. They are put in a B&B and no body is there to tell them to process or what to do next. Blame the system not the people.
@John Horan: what about the overcrowded Hopitals wards not enough staff and beds because this country is bringing in people without being prepared
@Bee Johnson: give us a break most of these people come here and transit trough another country .they have educated themselves on what’s available here. The article makes it look like we’re leaving them to suffer with us misleading. Citizens advice would quickly put them on the right track. https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/moving_country/asylum_seekers_and_refugees/services_for_asylum_seekers_in_ireland/medical_services_and_entitlements_for_asylum_seekers.html
@John Horan: No they don’t! Your taxes pay for them.
@John Horan: yes John but we the tax payer are entitled to 1 dental check and an eye test wahay ! Prsi paid and yet we still fork out for medical care
@DavidOReilly: and meat from FX buckley,
How many of the 500 have had their applications rejected? How long can they stay her while they appeal the decision?
@John Walsh: Info from asylumineurope org. The rejection rate of asylum seekers in Ireland: Albania 99%, Georgia 97%, Zimbabwe 82%, Nigeria 94.4%, Syria 1.75%. In 2018 there were 3673 applications for asylum in Ireland, total rejection rate is 70.3%.
The most countries asylum seekers coming from: Albania 459, Georgia 450, Syria 333, Zimbabwe 282, Nigeria 251. Gender breakdown: Men 1902 or 51.8%. Women 914 or 24.9%, Children 840 or 22.8%. But yeah I agree “facts are racist”…
There are Irish people in tents in our cities FFS
yet another d.p. story on the journal — are you being sponsored by R.I.A. these days ? these people have a roof over their heads ,food in their bellies and somewhere to sleep – far more than the thousands of homeless people of this country have ! yet all we hear is “we want this – we want that ” be bloody grateful for what you have and the fact that this country is giving you the chance to be here . if you dont like the system then leave – after all most of those ‘asylum seekers’ must have passed through other EU countries to get to ireland -so why didnt they apply for asylum there ? and a little idea for our government to think about – if our dp centres are full to bursting as this article suggests – THEN STOP LETTING ANYMORE IN TO THE COUNTRY UNTIL YOU HAVE PROCESSED THOSE ALREADY HERE !!
Do these people seeking asylum get screened health wise before being placed in the general population via hotels & B&Bs?
@icaniwont: Yes, they are screened. The HSE’s operates a Mobile Health and Screening Unit and the Safetynet Primary Care team that serves homeless and newly arrived asylum seekers and run health screening…
“Safetynet’s Mobile Health and Screening Unit (MHSU) is a new service provided by Safetynet in partnership with HSE Social Inclusion. The MHSU will provide health services and screening services initially to vulnerable migrants and later other vulnerable groups. The MHSU aims to complement current health services, identify and treat health problems and reduce threats from communicable diseases. It aims to facilitate integration of specific population groups including asylum seekers to mainstream services. This will be a national service delivered throughout Ireland by means of a vehicle specifically designed and equipped with XRay and consultation room.
Most recently the service integrated the health care needs of 214 Syrian refugees into Ballaghadereen in County Roscommon.”
@David Jordan: Is screening voluntary or mandatory?
@Josh Hanners: It’s voluntary, in 2017, 1,544 out of 1,955 asylum seekers invited to heath screenings by the HSE attended appointments, 79%.
There is also no evidence that mandatory health checks are beneficial. Instead, the World Health Organisation recommends voluntary general health checks, improved sanitation and vaccination programmes.
“The World Health Organization (WHO) does not recommend compulsory mass screening of the asylum seeker population for infectious diseases because there is no clear evidence proving the effectiveness of screening. Instead, the WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) advise European countries to provide general health checks and improve sanitation and vaccination programmes to prevent outbreaks of infections like measles and influenza.”
References:
Beeres et al., 2018. Screening for infectious diseases of asylum seekers upon arrival: the necessity of the moral principle of reciprocity. BMC medical ethics, 19(1), p.16. https://bmcmedethics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12910-018-0256-7
500 and the rest
It’s Sunday and right on cue…
@Alternative for Ireland:
Yes the journal needs an excuse to the the neanderthals riled up
@Patrick Nolan: If you are white, you are part Neanderthal, so suck that up.
Emergency accommodation: OVER 10,000 IRISH PEOPLE NOW LIVING IN B AND B`s ACROSS IRELAND.
There – that looks better
@Pixie McMullen: *HOTELS AND B And B`S
There is international monetary support for asylum seekers, where has this money been spent?
Plenty underused religious buildings / convents, buy some of those and put them to use.
@Caroline Otoole: Why? Since when has the whole world become our problem?
Thai does not make sense, Europe are making Ireland government take in asylum seekers but Ireland can not accommodate properly.
@Mickomacko: for your sake I hope the National Party doesn’t demand that everyone ‘speak proper English’ as is the case with alt-right wingers in the UK and US.
Deport them all. Problem solved. No more issues with accommodation
At what cost and 10 Thousand plus Irish homeless.. EU and FFG are no good …
Thai does not make sense, Europe are making Ireland government take in asylum seekers but Ireland can not accommodate properly. The National Party will sort out this country
@Mickomacko:
The national party? How many votes did they get last time out?
yet air BnB is seen as the problem then Joe public tries to make a little extra income. All these problems are then told its our fault.
Don’t want migrants here cos more crimes
@Brian Flavin:
Surprising someone with such a poor command of English complaining about foreigners?
In other news…..
Absolutely unacceptable that asylum seekers should have to live in these conditions. They should at least be put on top of the housing list when they get their asylum status as they have suffered enough without having to wait years to get a home.
@Humphrey Harold Haddington: so do a lot of honest workers that also pay taxes…
@Dominic Leleu: we need to look after the most vulnerable in society first.
@Humphrey Harold Haddington: Hope you have a pleasant fishing expedition.
I see you have caught a few already.
@Diogenes O’Mahoney: could you explain more? Why do you think i may be going to fish today?
@Humphrey Harold Haddington: You’re clearly fishing those unaware of your amateur and time consuming trolling. You’d be better off being a paid troll for the Russians or the EU.
@Windom Earle: So we now live in a society where if a person has sympathy for the less well off and vulnerable in society they are a a troll..
But if i was to write up hateful, tasteless and racist comments i will receive green thumbs and fanfare cheers.
@Humphrey Harold Haddington: You’re either a troll or you’re intellectually challenged.
@Humphrey Harold Haddington: You’re either a troll or you’re intellectually challenged.
@Diogenes O’Mahoney: curious when they got they they are gone fishing..
@Humphrey Harold Haddington: Dont feed Humphrey he has no friends and just want attention.
Luxury tents…large ones that can accomodate whole families…and given services and amenities. This would be cheaper to provide.. it could be the solution to the problem. That’s my tuppence..
Maybe the shinners & lefties should hang a flag over civic buildings in Dublin. That might help
Deport now
Not one to dismiss the dire importance of the situation at hand, but over 10,000 other people are trying to find accommodation at the moment.
If I was to point a finger, it would be towards the FF/FG landlords in governance that the well-heeled population of Ireland consistently re-elect back into power for 71 years running.
Something needs to change. I’m only sad that it will not happen in my lifetime.
@EillieEs: Take a look at Sweden. Germany new years night when a thousand women raped.Give at another two yrs and the ghettos and no go area’s start popping up everywhere.
I believe the campaign focus should be on housing policy change … not hate for refugees.
Plenty of places for everyone to live in if the vast empty property came on the market, and a better working economy if these new people could set up their skills.
Thankfully, another DP story. I was beginning to suffer withdrawl!
Some of the comments here are disgusting. Who’d have thought that Ireland, a country of emigrants, would be so unwelcoming to people who have fled unimaginable hardship.
@EillieEs: How many received handouts when they went abroad? How many demanded that their host population change to suit them? How many moaned about discrimination? You and your ilk hate your own people.
Where not alot of the Eastern European countries not sending ex prisoners over here, I mean actually giving them money to come here?.
have your say