Letters

The business of providing housing

The speculative investor

Thu Apr 06 2023 - 00:12

Sir, – People who buy houses and rent them out are not in the business of providing housing. They are speculative investors who are able to extract unearned income from their investment which in turn pays for the investment.

When renters have paid off the mortgage, the speculative investor takes full possession of the property – a valuable asset. At all times the speculative investor is protected by Irish law and the ideological myth promoted by Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Greens, Labour, and a number of Independents that speculative investors are in the business of providing housing when in fact they are not. Housing for the speculative investor is just another commodity and interest in that particular commodity is subject to the fluctuations in the markets in general. That is why renters/tenants have so few protections and rights and speculative investors have so many.

Figures about speculative investors entering and leaving the market are irrelevant to the provision of housing. The speculative investor will, in most instances, respond to the various factors influencing fluctuations in the property market. That is only to be expected. However, attempts by governments to compensate speculative investors for market fluctuations have no place in any rational housing policy.

Speculative investors are market players, and the markets will take care of them. Sometimes they will win. Sometimes they will lose. That’s as it should be for speculative investors.

READ MORE

The provision of adequate social housing for all citizens, on the other hand, is essential in any civilised democratic society. For many of the movements that led to the foundation of this State that was a guiding principle. The provision of adequate social housing should be a human and a civil right. Unfortunately, Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Greens, Labour and some Independents are more concerned with the rights of property. If the ongoing housing crisis is to be resolved equitably, adherence to that dysfunctional market ideology will have to be abandoned. – Yours, etc,

PAUL McGUIRK,

Dalkey,

Co Dublin.

Sir, – Your editorial on international corporate tax reform (April 4th) concludes that Ireland needs to play its part in offering the highest level of certainty to business on how this will work.

I agree – and I would apply the same thought to the residential market. Buying and letting residential property is a business with a very long-term horizon. Those investing in it need a reasonable degree of certainty in the same way as foreign businesses contemplating major and long-term investments here.

Unfortunately the rental market has become a political football where the cliché is tenant good and landlord bad. Should we really be surprised that existing landlords are selling up and are not being replaced by younger investors when Sinn Féin and others on the left insist on portraying them as the enemy? – Yours, etc,

PAT O’BRIEN,

Rathmines,

Dublin 6.

A chara, – I suggest that the Government give consideration to granting landlords relief on the first €14,000 of their rental income.

This would greatly incentivise the smaller landlords to remain in the rental sector.

It would also give them parity with the rent-a-room relief scheme. – Is mise,

JOSEPH TUMMON,

Galway.

Sir, – The media seem to be reporting that the eviction ban was “lifted” (an active intervention to end a rule or law), but it in fact it “expired” (came to an end after a fixed length of time).

It is important that the phraseology used is correct, as this can put a different political spin on things. – Yours, etc,

GERALD DUFFY,

Cork.

Sir, – The Residential Tenancies Board reported that 4,329 eviction notices were issued in the last quarter of 2022 (“More landlords expected to exit market”, News, April 4th). The Simon Communities issued a statement last week that there were only 29 rental properties available within the Housing Assistance Payment scheme during March. The statement also noted that there were just 672 properties for rent at any price within 16 areas in March. The Government contends that anyone facing eviction will be able to find a new home. But can anyone in Government explain how the tenants at these 4,329 locations will be able to find a new accommodation when it seems the number of available sites may be no more than 701? How many more eviction notices were issued during the first quarter of 2023? – Yours, etc,

DAN DONOVAN,

Dungarvan,

Co Waterford.