People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy is calling on the government to extend the existing rent freeze following reports that some landlords are demanding an 8% rent increase once the current partial freeze is lifted in July. This is happening because landlords are being allowed to impose last year’s 4% increase on top of this year’s increase.
The call comes after the TD’s questioning of Tánaiste Leo Varadkar about the logic of lifting the freeze on rents during Promised Legislation in the Dáil today. When questioned about landlords seeking two years worth of rent increases, Varadkar said, “An 8% increase for anyone is a very big increase in any one year…. I have to admit to not being aware of that, so I will certainly talk to the Minister about it.”
Paul Murphy TD said: “I have had reports that with the lifting of the rent freeze some landlords are now demanding a cumulative 8% increase from last year and this. As the Tánaiste admitted in the Dáil to me today 8% is a huge increase for anyone to pay. The question is how is the government allowing this?
“With rents in this country being totally unaffordable for ordinary people, any increase on top of these rents is not acceptable. The government needs to reimpose a full freeze on rents immediately and at the same time impose a complete ban on evictions, at the very least until the end of the pandemic.”
