Eviction Notice

at

This afternoon.

In the Dáil.

The government has been defeated as an anti-eviction bill sponsored by People Before Profit preventing landlords from evicting people into homelessness has passed 46-39 and will now go to the committee stage.

Fine Gael voted against the bill while Fianna Fáil abstained.

The Solidarity-People Before Profit bill would:

– Abolish the sale of a property as a ground for ending a tenancy.

– Require landlords terminating a tenancy to allow for a family member live in the property instead to pay six months’ rent to the tenant.

– Abolish ‘refurbishment’ or ‘renovation’ as grounds for terminating a tenancy.

Last year the bill didn’t pass after the Dáil vote was 51-51 and Ceann Comhairle Fianna Fáil’s Seán Ó Fearghaíl used his casting vote to vote against it.

People Before Profit

Update:

There you go now.

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62 thoughts on “Eviction Notice

    1. SOQ

      If landlords are leaving in droves (which I doubt) then great because that means more people may be afford to own their homes again. The ‘market’ is all property not just rentals, just in case you didn’t get my point.

    2. Mick

      Every house that a landlord sells is a house a family can buy and live in. We don’t have a housing crisis. We have an ownership of housing crisis.

    3. Andrew

      why do people keep saying this? It doesn’t make the property disappear if a landlord sells up. It’s usually ollie that doesn’t seem to get this. If a landlord sells then either another landlord buys and rents it out again or someone buys it to live in, removing them from the rental market.

  1. Zaccone

    This is pretty big isn’t it? It’ll make it much, much harder for landlords to evict people. Are there any grounds let for a landlord to evict someone legally?

  2. Fact Checker

    The bill (https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/bill/2018/131/eng/initiated/b13118d.pdf) includes some absurd provisions – for example if you are in a tenancy more than three years a landlord would need to give NINE months’ notice to quit. A year for any tenancy lasting over five years.

    These kind of restrictions are grand but would lead to a spectacularly poor quality of private rental stock. Landlords would be unable to improve the standard of the property (as tenants cannot be moved out for the purpose) and would have no financial incentive (unable to capture higher rents from a nicer property).

    1. Cian

      ‘1 or more months but less than 3 months’ was 28 – unchanged
      ‘3 or more months but less than 6 months’ was 28 changed to 60 days
      ‘6 or more months but less than 1 year’ was 35 changed to 90 days
      ‘1 year or more but less than 3 years’ was year1 (42), year 2 (56 ) changed to 180 days
      ‘3 years or more but less than 5 years’ was year 3 (84), year 4(112) changed to 270 days
      ‘5 years or more 365 days’ was years 5, 6, 7, 8 (140/168/196/224) changed to 365 days

      1. Fact Checker

        Huge increase in landlord’s obligations.

        Yet tenants still only obliged to give a month’s notice.

        We need a grown-up rental market in Ireland. But what that means is serious obligations and penalties for landlords AND for tenants.

        1. Brother Barnabas

          “Yet tenants still only obliged to give a month’s notice”

          notice obligation on tenants increases along with duration

          no

          once the tenancy has existed for a year, it’s 42 days. and increases up to 8 years, where it’s 112 days.

        2. Eoin

          The underlying problem is lack of supply.

          Makes sense to impose strictures on those controlling supply, especially where the demand (the renter, tenant) is constrained in getting alternative accommodation and risks homelessness.

          For something from PBP-AAA, this makes supreme logical social sense. Well done to them.

          1. Rob_G

            “Makes sense to impose strictures on those controlling supply…”

            – not really; if there is a shortage of rental properties, you want to make it easier for landlords to rent out their property, not more difficult.

        3. Dr Gonzo

          – “Huge increase in landlord’s obligations.”

          I’ve lived in Hamburg, Germany for a while. Never long enough to be included as a long term renter. But that 9 month notice for evicting long term renters is the exact same duration as Germany has.

      1. Fact Checker

        I don’t really like high rents.

        I like a private rented sector which has something for everyone.

        Making landlords face greater obligations is not good for that objective in the long run.

        1. SOQ

          Owning someone else’s home reduces your social standing in Ireland. Wrap it up whatever way you want but if you own some else’s home then most others will view you in a less positive light.

          It is historical, and also common sense.

          1. Rob_G

            No wonder Ireland’s housing is such a shambles – how are you supposed to have a rational debate about housing policy when there are people spouting such ráiméis as above?

      1. millie st murderlark

        What are you talking about? That lean-to at the side of that house was lovely. And very well ventilated.

    2. Bort

      You don’t need to move out of a property to paint walls, replace carpet, update a shower unit/cooker etc.
      My landlord is sound as a pound, my rent is not cheap but it’s the market rate. In 4 years living there we’ve put in a dishwasher, painted all the rooms, put in all new curtains all out of our own pocket. He’s fixed the heating twice and replaced the hoover. Could do with new carpets. There can be a symbiotic relationship between landlord and tenant. Now the rent is absolutely killing me but

      1. Cian

        You are right.
        The problems at the moment is lack of enforcement of the current rules (i.e. a landlord kicking out tenants for ‘major refurbishment’, giving it a lick of paint, and upping the rent by 40%).
        We need to enforce the current rules, not change the rules (and still not enforce them)

  3. Junkface

    This is good. The homeless crisis was way out of hand because of evictions. Landlords using the fake relative staying excuse was rampant. Maybe the Gov’t should introduce a very strict tenant and landlord registration system like they do in Europe to stop either side taking the mickey. Where you must register within a month of moving in, but also the Government has a full history of every lanlords actions. Also the security deposit is not kept by the landlord but by the Gov’t agency to stop landlords from stealing tenants security deposits. Irish landlords always try to steal your deposit in my experience. You have to take them to court for God’s sake!

    1. Stan

      Yep. Landlords here in the UK have to place deposits with a third party and with a signed agreement from landlord and tenant.

      1. SOQ

        +1

        People owning other people’s homes are probably the only section of Irish society whom are being judged like no other right now. And rightly so. FF know this.

    2. rotide

      “The homeless crisis was way out of hand because of evictions. ”

      This is completely and utterly wrong.

      The homeless crisis and the housing crisis is entirely down to a lack of SUPPLY. Evictions only become as problematic when there’s nowhere else to actually go.

      1. Dr.Fart MD

        have you ever gone to the RTB, Cian? they are fully on the side of landlords. I’ve dealt with them, as have friends of mine. They treat you like vermin trying to take money straight from their pockets. In my case, I knew i was legally in the right, and they said I wasn’t and basically shooed me off the phone, i rang again later and got a different person who recognised I was in the right, but wasn’t willing to act upon it. Third time round i was lucky to get someone willing to do their job. They are a pain to deal with.

        1. Brother Barnabas

          tenants tend to say the RTB is on the side of landlords; landlords tend to say it’s on the side of tenants. I’ve taken 4 or 5 cases to PRTB/RTB over years and found the process pretty fair – but slow.

          1. SOQ

            So slow they are going backwards at times but that is the legal profession for you,not just RTB. The slower they go, the more they can charge.

      2. Junkface

        “No. You go to RTB.”

        That’s what I meant. I had to take my case to the RTB court / hearing. I won the right to get most of my deposit back, but they allowed the landlord to deduct for cleaning! Even though we cleaned the place for 3 days before leaving! I took photos of everything and it looked clean! The stuff in the kitchen was quite old and could not look any better in a photo, but the RTB allowed a deduction. Wear and tear is supposed to be expected and not deducted from the deposit. So the RTB broke their own rule.

    3. Toe Up

      I had a great relationship with the landlord of the place I rented before I bought my house. I was there for 4 years, never had any complaints, rent was always paid on time and we had such a good relationship that he gave us wine and biscuits at Christmas every year.

      We left the house with about a week’s worth of rent remaining, which I didn’t ask to be refunded. We also left a set of (badly needed) shelves after us. The place was spotless for the most part when we left, apart from an unmown back garden and a bit of adhesive residue from a child’s stair gate. He still tried to hold back a few hundred euro from my deposit, until I pointed out the remaining rent.

      Landlords must develop an unyielding need to screw over tenants as soon as they start letting properties.

      1. millie st murderlark

        I worked in a letting agency at one point and I can say this is maddeningly true. Some of them are would make Charles Haughey look decent.

      2. SOQ

        I left an apartment spotless after a number of years renting, landlord didn’t even refuse to give the deposit back, he just blanked me. Next time it happened I was ready for them and took a claim to the RTB. I got the deposit back but only on the 11th hour before adjudication. There was a lot of non nationals living in that house and I pitied them trying do likewise.

        Those who say the system is loaded towards tenants have clearly never been on the other side of the fence. Landlords regularly flout what was the law then and no doubt will continue to do so. I don’t know why they do it is but I expect that at least part of the reason is that some got into the game because it appeared like easy money..

        1. Junkface

          Yes agreed! There is a culture among a lot of Irish landlords that they can steal the deposit no matter what. Its maddening, its criminal, and they should be prosecuted. The RTB are not tough enough on them. Are we a country of Laws or not?

          1. Cian

            I disagree.
            If you look at the RTB stats for 2017 – there were 124,732 new tenancies (so there were probably a similar number of tenancies that finished and deposits that should have been returned).

            There were 1,234 disputes relating to deposit retention. So less than 1% of tenancies had an issue. Of the deposit retentions disputes, 77% were full refunded to tenant, 15% partially refunded and 8% kept by landlord.

            For every 1000 tenancies that ended 990 got their deposit without a case; 10 took a case; of these ten, in one the landlord was entitled to the money; in one the landlord was entitled to some of the money, and in eight the landlord was not entitled to the money.

            “It is important to note that landlords who unlawfully withhold tenants’ deposits, either fully or partially, may be liable for damages awarded against them. In 2017, damages were awarded to tenants on the basis of a landlord unjustifiably retaining a deposit in 146 cases (26%).” – RTB Annual Report 2017

          2. Junkface

            Cian, have you considered that many, or maybe most tenants who are in house shares do not take their cases to the RTB when their deposits are stolen by their landlord? They find the process intimidating, or do not think that they can win. The landlords hold all of the cards in the tenants minds, and yes a lot of these tenants are immigrants who do not know how to begin the process.
            I explained to a friend of my Mams when I was fighting for my deposit with the RTB, and she said “Sure we never got our deposits back from landlords when we were renting in the 70’s and 80’s, you just never expected to win.” She was Irish! Renting in Dublin and the midlands. This is the culture of the Irish landlord.

    1. Dhaughton99

      You can if theres 12 Vietnamese running a grow farm in your attic. But only if they haven’t paid the rent in 18 months.

  4. Brigade of Muppets

    @ Dhaughton99 Clearly that is exactly what is already happening in Dublin, available short-term AirBnB listings outnumber fixed tenancies on offer by 2.5/1. Increased regulation of tenancies without significant additional AirBnB restrictions will unfortunately only further constrict supply.

  5. Mike

    Increasing the notice periods is welcome but I think sale of property as grounds for ending the tenancy is a mistake. Any property owner who isn’t more or less certain that they’re going to hold on to a property for the long term will be very reluctant to enter the lettings market as a tenant in-situ reduces the value of the property (as no prospective owner-occupiers will buy a property they can’t live in).

        1. jules

          Its disgraceful communist greed should be allowed to destroy future renters any chance of accessing private accomodation by disinsentiving any future investment in badly needed quality accomodation which is the norm in all advanced ecomomies.
          then didnt Tina McVeigh (PBP) say about the man who had his van robbed when he said “he had to get up in the morining to work but the people who stole his tools didnt” she tweeted “he deserved it”

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