Will Rent Pressure Zone reform help fix the housing crisis?
The Government will bring its latest
housing
fix to Cabinet today when it presents new rules on
rent
levels for approval.
Aimed at boosting supply – by encouraging large institutional investors to build and small landlords to stay in the market – the plan primarily concerns rules around
Rent Pressure Zones
(RPZ).
These were established in 2016 – the number of such zones grew over the years – to curb rent rises. Landlords could only raise rents annually, first by 4 per cent and in a subsequent change to the rules, by 2 per cent.
Now landlords of new builds – new houses or apartments – do not have to abide by those caps. Also when a new tenancy begins, a landlord can charge market rent – not the capped RPZ level. Existing tenants will still have 2 per cent rises, for the six-year duration of the lease.
READ MORE
There will also be new measures to prevent landlords evicting existing tenants simply to greatly raise the rent for a new tenancy.
Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Conor Pope
says no one is happy with the new plan, but why?
And does the plan make sense? Economics Correspondent
Eoin Burke-Kennedy
gives his analysis. Will the move really lure capital investment into Ireland's housing market?
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon.
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