Government parties will have the opportunity on Wednesday to clearly show where they stand on protecting households from homelessness

CATU, Ireland’s tenants’ union representing thousands of tenants across the island of Ireland, calls on Government parties to stand up for tenants and communities and reject new rent legislation which if enacted, would allow landlords to hike up rents to “market rate” in between tenancies or after 6 years. CATU believes that the damaging consequences that this rent resetting will have on affordability, security and wellbeing of tenants and communities across the country cannot be overstated. In its current form, this legislation will not protect tenants, but it will enable corporate landlords to squeeze households across the country for soaring profits. 

CATU has been clear that rents must come down, not up. Allowing landlords to hike up rents between tenancies or after 6 years flies in the face of the same Government’s own rent pressure zone rules. It is unclear to our members why the market rent rule is being proposed at a time when rents are already so high and record numbers of people are homeless across the state. 

While Minister James Browne has defended the measures by stating it will increase supply, corporate landlords in Ireland have generally built up their portfolios by buying existing homes. If passed, CATU believes these new rules will allow landlords to massively increase yields from their stock by hiking rents far beyond rent pressure zone limits, undermining any incentive for them to go to the trouble of building new homes. 

Speaking on the effect of this legislation, CATU National Committee representative, Mair Kelly, commented: “Market rent is a damaging and random concept that has no relationship to a person’s income. Rent in Dublin for a two bed apartment is over €2500 but the median wage for a worker under 30 is €3000. Soaring rents have become a feature of life across the country, with our members in Galway for example seeing rents rise by an eye-watering 75% in just 5 years. How many people can say they’ve had that kind of increase in wages?”

CATU Galway member Cáit Gleeson stated: “Allowing landlords to hike up rents between tenancies or after 6 years is a cruel and unnecessary policy that will add another layer of insecurity to tenants’ lives in Ireland. If a family with a child in a local school wants to stay in their home beyond the 6 year mark, they may have to cough up thousands more in rent just for the privilege of staying in their home. People should be allowed to put down roots in their communities, not penalised every 6 years with a massive rent increase.”

Gleeson continued: “If this rule around market rent had been brought in 2020, tenants in Galway for example would be looking at a 66% increase in rent this year just to be able to stay in their home. How is this fair?” 

Cork CATU member Lucas van Bilderbeek commented: “The Government is trying to dress this up as progress, but letting landlords reset to market rates after six years is betrayal. Market rent is not a fair price, it’s a ransom. These new laws aren’t meant to protect us; they’re designed to protect the profits of corporate landlords while many of us continue to spend half our wages just to keep a roof over our heads.”

CATU demands that the Government reject this legislation on Wednesday, and instead focus on increasing secure public housing across our communities.