Housing Minister’s plan will lead to higher rents, opposition says

Government reforms of tenancy arrangements will lead to higher rents, four opposition parties have said in a combined report.

Housing Minister James Browne said he is “very confident” the reforms will come into law on March 1, after pre-legislative scrutiny of the Residential Tenancies Bill saw a divide between Government and opposition politicians.

Spokesmen from Sinn Fein, the Social Democrats, Labour and People Before Profit on the Housing Committee authored a minority report calling on the Government to scrap the Bill.

They said expert evidence to the committee demonstrated there would be “dramatic increases” in rents for private and student renters, effectively ending protections which existed under rent pressure zones (RPZs) in previous years.

They further argue that tenants in new rental stock will have “no rental protections whatsoever”, adding that the proposals do not enhance security of tenure for existing tenants.

The new strategy saw rent pressure zones extended nationwide, capping annual rent increases at the rate of inflation or 2%, whichever is lower.

New tenancies created from March 1 onwards will be set at market value and offer six-year minimum rolling tenancies.

At the end of the six-year tenancy, the rent can be reset and put back to the market.

Large landlords, defined as having four or more tenancies, will be banned from carrying out no-fault evictions for tenancies beginning from March.

A small landlord can end tenancies through a “no-fault eviction” in limited circumstances, such as economic hardship or to move a family member in, but if they do that, they cannot reset the rent until the six-year window ends.

The new rules will not apply to tenancies created before March or apartments commenced after June 9 2025 and student-specific accommodation.

Sinn Fein housing spokesman Eoin O Broin said: “For new first-time tenancies where the previous tenant left voluntarily, the landlord can increase the rent to the full market rent.

“In Dublin, that would be 2,500-3,500 euro on average, lower than that outside.

“For new first-time tenants where the landlord evicted the tenants for no-fault grounds, the landlord won’t be able to increase the rent at the start, but they will every six years after that.

“And then for new rental stock, we have an even worse situation where not only will landlords be entitled to set the rent at the top of the market, there will be no rent pressure zone cap in between so it will be Consumer Price Index every single year.”

Mr O Broin said that under current trends of an average tenancy length of three to three and a half years and 25% of RTB (Residential Tenancies Board) registrations being first-time tenancies, the “overwhelming majority of renters” will be paying full-market rent within four years.

He said high rents were driving homelessness and causing young people to emigrate or move back in with their parents, as well as “creating a real nightmare” for renters approaching pension age.

Social Democrats TD Rory Hearne said there had been a “massive wave of evictions” last year, and added that higher rents will cause increased homelessness.

Mr Hearne said students would be one of the groups most affected by the changes as they often leave their accommodation for the summer.

“We’re going to see student rents hit the absolute roof and more students locked out of being able to afford accommodation.”

Mr Browne said the legislation was “essential”.

Speaking at a press conference at Government Buildings, he said: “If we are going to drive and deliver the homes that we need at scale, we need investment, and we need to give tenants security as well – that’s what this does on both levels.

“It drives investment by giving certainty to the international market and the national market for those who might be prepared to invest funding.”

He added: “But also for the tenants for the first time introducing security of tenure into this country, which is normal in almost every other country in the western world.”

“So we strike a balance here between landlords and tenants and to get that investment in – and I think there’s wins here for everybody.”

Mr Browne said his department had worked closely with the Attorney General and considered the suggestions of the Oireachtas committee.

In relation to students, he said he had several meetings with Further Education Minister James Lawless “looking at that particular situation”.

Mr Browne was speaking as the Government opened a call for projects under the billion euro Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund (HIIF).

The fund will be administered by the new Housing Activation Office in his department and is open to local authorities and the Land Development Agency.

Mr Browne said funding would be granted in the first half of this year.