Rental sector needs stability, reports claim

Assisting struggling

landlords and helping to secure the stock of rental properties in the market are priorities in two new reports published by the Private Residential Tenancies Board today.

The Future of the Private Rented Sector report shows that the number of people renting here has doubled since 2006, with one in five households now in the private rented sector.

With 36 per cent of landlords now classified as “accidental landlords”, close to a third of all those surveyed said they hope to sell their properties as soon as they can.

Worryingly for the future of the rental sector, 70 per cent of those landlords surveyed said they had an outstanding debt on the rental property.

A similar number of landlords also said their rental income did not cover their mortgage.

The reports, which have been produced for the PRTB on its 10th anniversary by DKM Economic Consultants and Red C Research, recommend a number of measures to Government on how to stabilise the future of the rental market in Ireland.

Anne Marie Caulfield of the PRTB said it was important that changes were made to protect stock levels dwindling further than they had in recent years.

“It’s not a crisis but nonetheless we do need to protect stock and we’ve put forward a number of options for the Government to consider on how they can help increase supply.

“Mortgage interest relief of 100 per cent needs to be considered. That may not be affordable just yet but there are other options such as offering it to those who accept rent supplements or giving it to landlords whose tenants sign-up to longer term leases, such as over a five-year term.

“We’d like to see longer term leasing incentivised because security is an issue for tenants but the report is independent and ultimately it is a matter for the Government to see what they want to implement from it and what they can afford,” said Caulfield.

The Future of the Private Rented Sector in Ireland and Rent Stability in the Private Sector in Ireland reports run to about 120 pages each. They can be downloaded at prtb.ie