Kelly's commitment to tackle rising rents welcomed

Kelly's commitment to tackle rising rents welcomed

Focus Ireland has welcomed the commitment by Minister of Environment Alan Kelly to take action on the issue of rising rents.

At the Labour Party conference at the weekend, Minister Kelly said he would bring proposals to Cabinet under which tenants would have their rents fixed and linked to the rate of inflations.

Landlords would also have to justify an increase in rents by refurbishing the property.

Some rent increases by landlords are "absolutely scandalous" and need to be brought to an end, Minister Kelly said.

He said he was looking at a link with the consumer price index, which would be one component of the scheme.

Mr Kelly said the scheme would allow landlords to offset their costs where they invested in their properties.

He also said that NAMA should not always sell to the highest bidder and that a proportion of its land needs to be set aside for projects to ensure the delivery of affordable housing in the future.

On RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Focus Ireland's Director of Advocacy Mike Allen, said that due to increasing rents, 52 families had been forced out of the private rental market in January.

He said there needs to be urgent action on rent control due to a risk of landlords hiking rents in response to Minister Kelly's announcement.

"The people we're concerned about are at the bottom end of the market where they're struggling to get any home and they are not in a strong negotiating position.

"So he [Minister Kelly] needs to introduce something which is mandatory and which covers everybody in the market and comes in very quickly," Mr Allen said.

"We recognise that this is a very complex issue and we're not just out to have a go at landlords.

"Landlords need to have a decent return on their income and we don't want to frighten them out of providing homes but we do need urgent balanced action on this from the Minister," he added.

Source : RTE 02/03/2015