Ryan: It’s time to recognize that 'property has its duties as well as its rights'
The Green Party have co-signed the Secure Rents and Tenancies Bill 2016 introduced by Sinn Fein in the Dáil today, and will be supporting the legislation along with the Labour Party, Social Democrats, People Before Profit/Anti-Austerity Alliance, and the Independents 4 Change.
This Bill looks to regulate rent increases by linking rents to the Consumer Price Index, provides for indefinite lease terms and protects tenants from eviction in the case of sale of a rental property.
Green Party leader, Eamon Ryan TD, said at the launch of the Bill: “We are signing this Bill in recognition of the rental crisis in our country. Rents have risen 47% in the last four years and are expected to rise by over 20% in the next two years. The insecurity of tenure and lack of protection against unexpected rent increases is having a crippling economic effect for so many people and is behind our homelessness crisis.
“The Bill seeks to increase the protections and rights of private tenants in a housing market where tax incentives and legal rights always seem to favour property owners.
“It is time for us to recognize, in line with our Constitution, that 'property has its duties as well as its rights'. We need to switch away from the old fashioned mechanism of trying to solve our housing problems by just pump priming the construction industry. It will take years for housing supply to increase and we need to take urgent measures to protect tenants from unfair exploitation in the meantime.
“There is no justification to leaving people prey to the vagaries of short term variations in housing supply and demand. Rental yields are now well-above their pre-crash levels, above the average of other EU-15 countries and above the returns on other investment categories. Introduction of greater rental certainty will not undermine the case for investment in new buildings but it will make a dramatic difference to the lives of hundreds of thousands of Irish people.”