Property buyers lack good protection

Consumer RightsCurrent housing law and policy in Ireland is a "human rights issue" due to the "massive imbalance in power" between suppliers and buyers, according to an NUI Galway law lecturer.

State approval of the construction and property sales sector is symbolised by the lack of any support for a consumer organisation devoted to protecting buyers and tenants, Dr Padraic Kenna says.

In a book on housing law published in Galway, Dr Kenna says that it is "truly remarkable" that an organised lobby of producers and suppliers largely influences legislation, policy and subsidy schemes.

"The Irish consumer is faced with a housing market that lacks effective competition, consumer protection or regulation, although these are widely accepted controls on any properly functioning market system," he argues.

Current legislation is rooted in "centuries-old legal principles, based on property and land", he says, and a number of reports recommending change - including papers by the Law Reform Commission and the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) - have been ignored. Such publications had pointed out the changing nature of property ownership and its links with family law issues.

The inaccessible nature of the market to many families is a human rights issue, he says, and yet effective legislation could ensure proper protection for both purchasers and tenants, both private and in social housing contexts. Such legislation could benefit the sector by ensuring that there are high standards, truthful descriptions and speedy, inexpensive remedies for defects.

Buyers are not only vulnerable to unfair contract terms and price fluctuations, but individual consumers who find defects in their properties have to resort to lengthy and expensive court action, Dr Kenna says. Such defects range from "walls which resonate with their neighbours' music to leaks", he says.

"A more recent illustration of the weak position of consumers is the imposition of compulsory management agreements, covering grass cutting, lighting and such-like, with often no limits on the exorbitant contributions payable," he points out.

"Issues of equality in access, exploitation of vulnerable people, affordability, lack of segregation, are powerfully linked with consumer rights issues," Dr Kenna says, and he believes that EU legislation is the only mechanism which will effect change.

Other market economies incorporate standards of housing rights through consumer rights, he says.

Housing Law and Policy in Ireland, by Dr Padraic Kenna, is published by Clarus Press at €49