This week the government is set to announce changes to the Rent Pressure Zone system that will allow landlords to raise rents even higher than the levels allowed under the current system. This comes as average rents have reached record levels.
People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy said “The government is making changes to the Rent Pressure Zone (RPZ) system that will allow landlords to drive rents even higher than the current record levels”.
“This comes as rents nationally recently surpassed an average of €2,000 per month for the first time. The average rent in Dublin is now €2,500 per month and the rate of increase has accelerated to the highest rate in 20 years”.
“But the government's response to record high rents is to change the RPZs to enable landlords to drive rents even higher. These are the actions of a government that is relentlessly focussed on serving the needs of developers and landlords first, last and always. It should also be repeated that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Lowry group TDs in the Dáil include many landlords”.
“The media reports on what the government is planning to do also indicate that security of tenure for tenants may be weakened. Recently I announced plans to introduce the Tenant Protection Bill 2025 in the coming weeks that would close a loophole that allows landlords to evict tenants without fault at the end of their tenancy if the tenancy commenced before 11 June 2022. But media reports of the government’s plans indicate that the government may do the opposite, by allowing landlords to reset rent every six years. The effect of this would be to reduce security of tenure for all tenants. This would be a shocking weakening of tenants’ rights. The government needs to inform the public immediately of exactly what it is planning in this regard”.
“We are in an emergency that the government is actively making worse for ordinary people for the benefit of landlords. This attempt to gut the Rent Pressure Zones will be strenuously resisted. We need immediate rent reductions and a ban on evictions”.
“Next week there will be a Raise the Roof protest at the Dáil at 6pm on Tuesday, 17th June to demand emergency actions. People Before Profit supports this protest and we urge people to join us on Tuesday evening of next week to demonstrate that people power will face down this government of landlords for landlords”.