# Rent increases to be limited to the lower of 2% or inflation.



## Brendan Burgess (2 Nov 2021)

So landlords, if inflation spikes to 10% and earnings rise by 10%, you can only increase your rents by 2%.









						Rent increases to be capped at 2% under new housing plan
					

Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien has consulted with the Attorney General to ensure plan can withstand any legal challenges




					www.irishtimes.com


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## PebbleBeach2020 (2 Nov 2021)

Time to sell up next time the properties become vacant. Rent to be increased by 2% annually, no exception either. If inflation not 2% then do it whatever month inflation is highest. 

Tenancies of indefinite duration are massive for accidental landlords. If you need it you can't get your own property back. If you want to sell it, no first time buyer, trader upper or downer or owner occupier will buy it. You can only sell it to a landlord buy to let, good luck finding one of them in the next few years. 

The number of rental properties over the next three years will make interesting reading. Thank you FF.


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## Protocol (3 Nov 2021)

As all rents are already way too high, no landlord should suffer from this cap.

(maybe except some landlords who were charging below-market, and were caught by the RPZ rules)


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## Thirsty (3 Nov 2021)

It's not clear from what has been published so far if the substantial renovation and / or two year gap still apply?


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## Leo (3 Nov 2021)

Protocol said:


> As all rents are already way too high, no landlord should suffer from this cap.
> 
> (maybe except some landlords who were charging below-market, and were caught by the RPZ rules)


So many rents are too high, but much of that is down to property prices being too high across the board. Measures to limit rent increases alone won't solve the issue with overall house prices issue and measures that punish landlords for being landlords will ultimately hurt tenants until supply constraints are addressed.

Politically, it's an easy win for the politicians who know they can't solve the supply issues with the stroke of a pen.


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## PebbleBeach2020 (3 Nov 2021)

It's very clear. You have "mom and pop" (or accidental landlords) who have one property. From my limited knowledge, these players tend to charge significantly lower rents than institutional investors. Those with below market rents are going to be hit with this 2% increase yes, but in many regards that isn't going to be the straw to break their back. Most of these players tend to be happy with good tenants and seeing as half the rental income is going to the tax man, increasing the rent isn't the "modus operandi". What is going to kill these "mom and pop" landlords is the proposed tenancies of indefinite duration. This will materially affect the value of their houses and mean they are unable to sell to any owner occupiers. The only buyers of their property would be a person wanting to become a landlord (this is rapidly becoming a dying breed).

What is going to happen when the above leave the market, tenants are going to be left with even more reduced supply (more landlords are leaving than entering the market) so the likes of the professional institutional investors with hundreds and thousands of properties for rent are going to be left to control the market. They already charge the highest rents and deliberately withhold properties to rent out properties at high rents. Once these are rented out, they release another tranche/block of properties and rent them out. They control supply, control the market and dictate the prices. When rents are set, you can be certain that these institutional investors will be increasing rents by the maximum amount permitted on an annual basis. So tenants are going to be hit long-term, big time.

Personally, a rent freeze is of more interest to me as a landlord. I'd rather they did this than prevent me from selling my property with vacant possession. Which, out of interest, until Darragh O'Brien proposed this, I had zero intention of selling up. That is an absolute game-changer for me and is why the number of notices to quit is going to go through the roof over the next month or two.

One should ask themselves the question, why are landlords leaving the marketplace in their droves when rents have never been higher in the history of the state and the experts are predicting 12% property price increases in 2021, with 5% in 2022 and 4% in 2023. Surely the sensible decision is to hold tough, enjoy your investment doing so well and revisit the situtation in 18-24 months time. If they sell, interest rates are on the floor meaning you need to invest your money elsewhere. Yet still, landlords are selling up because the governemnt is making it an impossible enviroment to operate in, changing the rent increase limits twice in 4 months and every year brings changes to the marketplace forever siding with the tenants. Extra protections for them and if they stop paying the rent then it'll take a landlord upto 2 years to legitamately get them out of the house. How is that fair on people? Tenants should be protected absolutely, but that comes from enforcement and cracking down on landlords operating outside the rules and getting away with it.


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## Maggs065 (3 Nov 2021)

Agree with everything you said PebbleBeach. As an accidental landlord, I can deal with rent caps, freezes, high taxes etc. But the indefinite tenancies will mean I will lose thousands if I ever manage to sell. So unfortunately, I am out. My good tenants will get their 6 months notice within a week.


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## elcato (3 Nov 2021)

Maybe FF and FG are doing this as a favour for lazy people who won't sell up now and wait till SF get in ? Once SF get in you'll get much less favours as a Landlord. Just sayin'.


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