Sir, - My landlord's first act of the new millennium was to bring the rent increases for my flat to 60 per cent in less than two years. Apparently this is not excessive, and I'm actually one of the lucky ones. Our history books tell us that not too long ago our ancestors were trodden upon by absentee landlords who used both force and rack-renting methods to evict them from their houses and lands. What has changed? The landlord's face is now a letter from the estate agent; the force now used is the threat of legal action; and rack-renting is done in the name of market forces and property prices.
The argument for doing nothing to protect people in rented homes is the usual free market one that things will find their correct level if left to do so. This is all very well in markets where supply and demand is flexible, but it will not work in a property market where the supply of housing is grossly inadequate.
Because our culture is so fixed with the notion that one must own one's own house, the rights of the tenant are not considered very important by those who decide on these matters. Perhaps if our laws protected tenants against rack-renting and the threat of receiving notice to quit (which can be as little as one month), those of us living in rented accommodation might have some incentive for staying where we are, rather than being forced onto the property ladder. - Yours, etc.,
John O'Neill, Christ Church, Dublin 8.