Growing numbers of people, including two-income families, will never own their homes unless there is a large drop in house prices, a conference was told yesterday.
But though they will always live in private rented accommodation, they can be evicted at will and can have their rents raised without explanation, the conference, organised by the housing advice agency Threshold, was told.
Some children have already changed schools five times because their parents cannot pay 25 per cent to 50 per cent increases in rent or have received notices to quit for other reasons, Ms Maura O'Neill, Threshold's regional manager in Cork, told the conference.
The conference, "Private rented housing - options for the future", was held in Dublin Castle.
The Minister of State for Housing and Urban Renewal, Mr Robert Molloy, cautioned against over-regulation of the rented sector, as this would damage the supply of accommodation.
Ms O'Neill told the conference: "The power of a landlord to increase rent and to issue notice to quit at will, and without reason, means that all other rights of the tenants are compromised."
Among the complaints made to Threshold in Cork were:
In the first week of the year, seven tenants told Threshold they had been given notices to quit because they asked for their landlords' RSI numbers so they could claim the £500 annual tax allowance.
During Christmas week, "our Cork centre dealt with 21 separate cases of people who had been given notice to quit to expire between Christmas Eve and New Year. These people faced Christmas in homeless hostels, the fathers in one, the mothers and children in another."
The first eight calls to Threshold in 1999 were about rent increases ranging from 25 per cent to 50 per cent. "Can you imagine the outcry if mortgage interest rates were increased by even 5 per cent?"
One caller, a retired civil servant, had lived in the same accommodation for 13 years. She had paid for repairs and decoration herself during that time and the rent had gone up by 10 per cent each year. Now the landlord was demanding an extra £60 a week.
"She could not believe that after all her years of service to the State, she had no protection in her own home," said Ms O'Neill.
Ms O'Neill added: "We meet women in tears at the prospect of uprooting their children yet again from their schools because they have received notice to quit."
She said: "While those who can readily afford high rents have plenty of choice at the exclusive end of the market, the majority of people seeking accommodation enter a twilight zone, where many have to pay an agency just to get the address of a flat for rent.
"Others rely on word of mouth, or newspaper advertisements with untraceable mobile numbers. So many of the tenants who contact us have no address for their landlord. Some only have a first name."
Interpretations of constitutional rights have leaned heavily over the years towards the rights of private property, she said.
Mr Molloy told the conference: "There is the need to balance the rights of landlords and tenants in a way that is compatible with constitutional requirements and resolving the difficulties in this area through legislative action will not be an easy task as over-regulation would have a damaging impact on supply."