The Government has been urged to bring tax relief on rent up to the level of mortgage interest relief and clamp down on unregistered landlords who are letting sub-standard accommodation, to ease the housing crisis.
"Young people have been squashed from the housing market, are being exploited wholesale by landlords and have been abandoned by the Government," the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) president, Mr James Doorley, declared after his annual assembly adopted its new housing action plan.
The NYCI wants the Government to have an amnesty for landlords who failed to register their premises under the 1992 legislation. This should then be followed up by enforcement of the regulations.
The existing legislation was inadequate and was not being enforced, Mr Doorley said. The number of inspections of rented premises carried out by local authorities has fallen from 6,017 in 1994 to 3,611 in 1997.
"Outside Dublin, inspections for unregistered landlords are almost non-existent - 96 per cent of inspections for unregistered rented property are carried out in Dublin, although it only has one-third of the country's rented accommodation," Mr Doorley said.
The regulations defining substandard accommodation also needed to be tightened, the NYCI recommended. Premises with outdoor toilets and no lighting on stairs and hallways were acceptable under current regulations.
The council also wants the first-time buyers' grant paid on a monthly basis over five years to dampen house-price increases.
Meanwhile the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers urged the Government to allow investors in properties divided into multiple dwelling units to offset mortgage interest against rental income for tax purposes.