Councillor Jess Spear of People Before Profit has launched a legal challenge against South Dublin County Council and its chief executive over their refusal to respect the democratic wishes of council members who voted overwhelmingly in June to halt rent increases for more than 20,000 social housing tenants.
Councillor Spear is asking the High Court to quash the council's new rent scheme and vindicate the right of elected members to hold the council executive to account. In June, a special meeting of the council voted 15 to 1 in favour of a Section 140 motion to suspend the changes to the scheme until the executive completes a consultation and until the 2027 budget has been approved.
Despite the vote, the Chief Executive introduced the new scheme in July. It includes a 25% increase in the base rent, with increases of up to 53% for some lone parents in receipt of the Working Family Payment and 41.5% for some old-age pensioners. The judicial review proceedings will come before the courts later this year.
Cllr. Jess Spear said: “The law is very clear on this. The Chief Executive has to follow council policy, and he has to abide by Section 140 motions. Civil servants, no matter how senior, are not a law unto themselves. Ploughing ahead with a rent hike against the express wishes of the elected members looks like a clear and reckless violation of the Local Government Act.
“Rather than fighting the councillors and the tenants on this, the Chief Executive should pause the new scheme and carry out the consultation that councillors unanimously voted for in February, and again in the Section 140 motion in June. Tenants have serious concerns about these rent hikes and about the lack of housing maintenance. They deserve to have their voices heard. The council already takes in millions more in rent than it spends from its own funds on housing maintenance. That is why councillors said any rent review should be based on fairness and should not be revenue-raising.”
People Before Profit say they will continue their campaign against these rent hikes, pointing to the 2027 Council budget as a further opportunity to stop them. Councillor Spear said “This is about finding a better way to fund local services, one that doesn’t impoverish lone parents, pensioners and working families.”
Local People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said “What is happening in South Dublin should alarm anyone who cares about local democracy. Councillors voted not once but twice on this, and an unelected official has decided to override them. If a Chief Executive can simply ignore a Section 140 motion, then what local democracy do we have left at all?
“This is part of a national drive to squeeze more money out of social housing tenants at the worst possible time. Working families, pensioners and lone parents are being asked to pay more during a cost-of-living crisis, while the maintenance of their homes is neglected.
“People Before Profit will back this legal challenge and keep fighting these hikes on the streets, in the communities and in the council chamber.”
A similar rent increase at Dublin City Council was only narrowly passed last year, when a People Before Profit budget amendment to freeze the rents failed by 31 votes to 30.
There is likely to be an attempt to reverse those rent increases in the upcoming council budget too.
Similar rent changes are in the works in Cork, Sligo and Wicklow, where tenants are also getting organised to fight back.
A press conference chaired by Jess Spear which lays out most of the detail of the opposition to rent hikes by South Dublin County Council.