Speaking following news that rents in Belfast are rising faster than any other UK city, Gerry Carroll said: “It is scandalous that rents in Belfast have risen by more than 50% over the past five years. Private tenants are increasingly expected to pay eyewatering sums for homes that are cramped, in a poor state of disrepair or riddled with mould. Tenants are expected to suffer in silence. If they have the temerity to assert their basic rights - to ask for repairs or attempt to negotiate a rent increase - they’re often threatened with eviction. For years, People Before Profit has been banging on about extortionate private rents, while Executive parties have refused to lift a finger."
“The North is a complete outlier when it comes to tenants’ rights, with no protections from no-fault evictions, no mechanism to challenge unfair rents and no legislation to force landlords to tackle damp, mould and disrepair as a matter of urgency. This is a crisis created by profiteering landlords and a listless Stormont Executive. But it’s no surprise that a legislature where 1 in 5 MLAs are landlords has failed to regulate rents and improve housing conditions for tenants.”
“It’s abundantly clear that urgent action is needed to tackle the worst effects of this housing crisis, including the mass construction of social housing. But it’s also obvious that the Executive is unwilling or unable to build at the scale needed, or to invest in our wastewater infrastructure - or even force developers to pay their fair share. This is why I’m developing my private members bill - the People’s Housing Bill - which would regulate an out-of-control sector by introducing rent reductions and a no-fault eviction ban. Tenants deserve affordable and secure housing, and they have waited long enough for these basic protections.”