The Government has defended regulation changes that allowed landlords to set new tenancies at market rates in the face of Opposition criticism that the move led to record rent hikes.
A report published by property website Daft.ie this week showed rents increased by 4.4 per cent between December and March, the highest three-month increase on record.
Figures were particularly high in Galway, where asking prices for rented properties rose 18 per cent year-on-year.
However, Taoiseach Micheál Martin questioned the use of the Daft report as the basis for assessing the rental sector as a whole, arguing in the Dáil that it was not based on a comprehensive data set covering the entire market.
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During heated exchanges on Wednesday, Martin was called a “slíbhín” by Sinn Féin as he defended the Government’s changes to rent controls amid much disruption and heckling.
He said that the number of tenancies had actually increased to more than 240,000, a record level, because of the Coalition’s housing policies.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald described the rental rule changes as a “disaster” and said evictions were at their highest level since the famine era of the 19th century.
“It takes a very particular type of slíbhín to stand in this House and suggest that it is okay for families to face a rent bill of €30,000 a year in Dublin and €27,000 a year in Galway,” she said.
The Daft.ie report noted year-on-year rent increases of 18 per cent in Galway, followed by Cork (13 per cent), Limerick (10 per cent), Waterford (8 per cent) and Dublin (6.9 per cent).
The Taoiseach told the Dáil that “you have to treat the Daft data with care in terms of any proper comprehensive analysis of the rental market”, pointing instead to Central Statistics Office figures showing a 0.3 per cent monthly change in rents during the first quarter.
The overhaul, which came into effect in March, allows landlords to reset rents to market rates between tenancies. Tenants were also granted greater security of tenure through new six-year “minimum duration” tenancies.
The changes were on Wednesday defended by Minister for Housing James Browne, who said the Government had to “do something very important here to drive supply, because we had seen supply dry up”.
[ Record number of eviction notices issued ahead of changes to rental rulesOpens in new window ]
He said the recent months had also seen an increase in the number of landlords and tenancies.
Browne acknowledged rents had been “going up continuously as it was”, but said many people were still living with their families due to the shortage of rental accommodation.
“We had to drive that supply, and we made those changes not only to get more supply going, but also to strengthen tenants’ rights,” he said.
He argued that without the reforms “this was just slowly going to get worse and worse”, adding that the measures were intended to encourage the construction of apartments and houses across the country.
Sinn Féin housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin said the surge in rents was a direct consequence of the Government’s decision to allow landlords to reset rents between tenancies.
Labour housing spokesman Conor Sheehan called on the Government to remove the market rent reset mechanism from the legislation and to support Labour proposals to ban no-fault evictions.
Rory Hearne of the Social Democrats said the hikes would lead to a “tsunami of evictions”.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín argued the Government could have improved housing viability without increasing pressure on renters by cutting VAT and utility connection fees on new-build homes.
