Landlords served 4,741 eviction notices to tenants last summer, with 60 per cent saying they wanted the property back so they could sell up, according to the latest figures from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB).
Almost two-thirds of these termination notices, submitted to the RTB between July and September last, will come into effect on April 1st following the Government’s decision to lift the ban on evictions.
The number of notices in the third quarter of 2022 was a significant increase on the number of eviction notices served in the first six months of the year, with the RTB notified of 1,132 notices from January to March and 1,666 from April to June last year. However, the latest figures coincide with legislation which came into effect on July 6th requiring landlords to send a copy of an eviction notice to the RTB on the same day the notice is served on the tenant.
More than 1,000 of the eviction notices served on tenants during the summer period were due to come into effect before October 30th. These tenants would not have been protected by the ban, which is in place since that date and up to March 31st, and may already have left the properties.
However, 3,644 had termination dates from the fourth quarter of last year up to the end of this year. The vast majority, 2,237, were due to come into effect in the first three months of this year, but would have been stalled by the eviction ban. Most of the 645 notices with termination dates in the fourth quarter of last year will also be enforceable from April 1st.
The Government brought in the temporary ban on “no-fault” evictions at the end of October amid the cost-of-living and housing crises. The Cabinet last Tuesday decided to lift the ban, with the Government promising to introduce other measures to protect tenants.
Evictions are set to resume on a phased basis from April onwards, though some tenants will remain protected until mid-June depending on the length of their tenancies.
Most landlords who served notice last summer (2,845) said they were issuing eviction notices because they intended to sell the home. In another one sixth of cases (794 notices) they or a member of their family wanted to move into the property. A similar number, 738, were due to a “breach of tenant obligations” which can mean a failure to pay rent or other breaches of the lease agreement. In these cases the tenant would not have been protected by the “no-fault” eviction ban.
In 136 cases the landlord was seeking to end the tenancy before its first six months expired. After this period the tenant gains rights to stay in their home for up to six years and the landlord can only terminate on limited grounds.
In a handful of cases the landlord said they intended to substantially renovate the property and required vacant possession, or the dwelling was no longer suitable for the accommodation needs of the tenant, or the landlord intended to change the property to a non-residential use.
The figures indicated the risk of homelessness when the ban on evictions ends “is much worse than expected”, Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said. “Notices issued from July to September would have, in many cases, fallen due from February during the ban period. A huge number of these notices will now fall due in April. This will mean more people than ever before will have to leave their rental homes. There is simply no way that homeless services will be able to cope with this level of need.”
