# Irish Times covers Landlord's perspective on rental crisis



## Brendan Burgess (21 Dec 2021)

‘Landlords are petrified’: Property owners’ perspective on the rental crisis
					

Tenant rights, caps on rent and investment yields appear to be forcing landlords out




					www.irishtimes.com
				












						Landlord ‘at wits’ end’ two years after serving notice on tenant
					

‘I have attempted to be patient. I have been flexible . . . I am not a social worker’




					www.irishtimes.com


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## Sarenco (21 Dec 2021)

Meanwhile the Minister seeks advice on extending RPZs nationwide -








						Minister seeks advice on extending rent pressure zones countrywide
					

Darragh O’Brien believes pressures in the rental market will begin to ease from March




					www.irishtimes.com
				




While Dublin City Council want to restrict build-to-rent developments -








						New Dublin city development plan will end apartment construction
					

Pleasing the people who want to own homes should not come at the cost of punishing renters




					www.irishtimes.com


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## argolis (21 Dec 2021)

> This means that some expenditures, such as property tax and *paying off the capital on a mortgage*, cannot be set against profits, while other expenditures, such as on buying furniture for a property, have to be charged against profits over eight years, rather than in the year of the outlay, as is the case with investments in his English properties.



From the first article, there's a bunch of good points but... he wants tax relief on his capital repayments??

I don't know why the government doesn't empower the RTB to be a mandatory escrow service for rental deposits, the interest on which may help fund the agency and beef up its staffing. According to the CSO, in 2016 there were 326,493 privately rented properties. If the average monthly deposit was even €1,000 there'd be €326 million in funds. Tenants should favour it, as their deposit is held by a more trustworthy party. Landlords may not favour it on the face of it as much as it's less money in their bank account but it should lead to quicker dispute resolution.


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## The Horseman (21 Dec 2021)

Brendan Burgess said:


> ‘Landlords are petrified’: Property owners’ perspective on the rental crisis
> 
> 
> Tenant rights, caps on rent and investment yields appear to be forcing landlords out
> ...


This unfortunately is something that goes unspoken because of "evil" landlords. Ironically the majority of people would probably know a landlord with a single property who is just an "average Joe". 

The legislation has swung too far towards the tenant almost completely ignoring the small landlord which is no doubt part of the reason they are leaving the market. (not the only reason but certainly is part of the reason). 

One of the articles show even when one of the landlords followed the rules and regulations he still can't get his property back. How is this exactly fair on him.


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## NoRegretsCoyote (21 Dec 2021)

argolis said:


> I don't know why the government doesn't empower the RTB to be a mandatory escrow service for rental deposits, the interest on which may help fund the agency and beef up its staffing


Because we are in a zero interest rate world so it doesn't pay for itself.

Because you would need a whole other type of staff. The RTB is just a load of people pushing paper, it has a very limited finance capacity as you would expect.

Because you would need huge IT overhaul. The RTB's current system is antiquated.



None of this makes it impossible. I am just not sure that the costs involve would be worth the benefit.


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## argolis (21 Dec 2021)

NoRegretsCoyote said:


> Because we are in a zero interest rate world so it doesn't pay for itself.



Maybe they could get better returns by investing in REITs or something *cough*


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## Brendan Burgess (21 Dec 2021)

argolis said:


> I don't know why the government doesn't empower the RTB to be a mandatory escrow service for rental deposits,



It would be cheaper for the government to just pay the rental deposit than to set up the bureaucracy required for holding them and paying them out at the end and getting into disputes about what should be paid and what shouldn't be paid and for employing an equality officer to make sure that deposits are the same for every race, class, gender and creed, and to employ people to do annual and five year plans and others to liaise with the housing charities and other government bodies and to attend conferences abroad of the International Federation of State Backed Deposit Schemes and then to translate all of that into Irish.

Brendan


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## Mocame (21 Dec 2021)

Very funny Brendan and with more than a grain of truth!

In most countries where a deposit guarantee scheme operates this is run via an insurance scheme rather than someone holding cash in a central agency.  If something like this was established in Ireland it would save the RTB a lot of work because a huge % of the disputes they deal with relate to deposits.

The anti-landlord bile in the comments underneath this Irish Times article is something to behold.  I have rented some proper kips in my time and been messed around by numerous landlords particularly as a student and I know rents are very high.  So I do understand the resentment against landlords but unlike the people posting on the Irish times I understand that no one is obliged to provide me with a commercial service.  No more than the local corner shop owner, electrician etc a landlord can choose to withdraw his/her service is the government makes the business too unattractive via taxation and regulation.  And they are doing that currently, in droves. So I fail to see how yet more regulation will reverse this situation.


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## Dermot (21 Dec 2021)

I have always returned the Deposit within one week.  I will give another 2 examples of where two tenants were leaving my properties by giving 1 week's notice and 3 days' notice in the 2nd instance.   In both cases, they were with me in excess of 5 years.  One of them was moving in with a partner and the other to a job in another part of the country.
I know what I could have done but I  am sure that the RTB would find an excuse not to make a finding in my favour.  The individual that was moving in with the partner would probably have stayed on and not paid the rent if I did not return the deposit.
Politicians are mainly populist and the anti-landlord sentiment is very populist at the moment.
The bureaucracy around a 3rd party holding the deposit would work against tenants in the long term in my opinion.


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## The Horseman (21 Dec 2021)

Dermot said:


> I have always returned the Deposit within one week.  I will give another 2 examples of where two tenants were leaving my properties by giving 1 week's notice and 3 days' notice in the 2nd instance.   In both cases, they were with me in excess of 5 years.  One of them was moving in with a partner and the other to a job in another part of the country.
> I know what I could have done but I  am sure that the RTB would find an excuse not to make a finding in my favour.  The individual that was moving in with the partner would probably have stayed on and not paid the rent if I did not return the deposit.
> Politicians are mainly populist and the anti-landlord sentiment is very populist at the moment.
> The bureaucracy around a 3rd party holding the deposit would work against tenants in the long term in my opinion.


Another reason small landlords are leaving. The above shows how one sided it has become.


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## Brian McD (21 Dec 2021)

There are such horror stories out there with tenants not paying rent / leaving house in a mess, that I understand why small landlords are leaving. It can take time to find good tenants - we ask for everything from tenants , income, job, employer ref / landlord ref , social media background check. The looks you get when you ask these questions, you get that - they are gone. Takes time to weed out the bad ones and ohh my god are there bad ones out there that you wouldn’t want in your property. I’d fear to give it to an agent in case he / she let one of them in. You just wouldn’t get them out without a fight / cost. Just not worth it. Talking to friends recently about this - they are thinking about selling their places , not worth all the hassle dealing with tenants, over 50% tax on income, but what do you do with the cash if you sell kept coming up!


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## Lone Star (22 Dec 2021)

Have a friend staying in my place since Oct, no charge. even at that I had need to have words with him and he agreed to pay my former cleaner to clean weekly. then we discovered the new oven in a mess, like a deep fat fryer it was,  so his only option was to hire in a professional company to restore it or he knew he was packing his bags. What hope do people have if even people we know treat the properties way less favourably than one would hope. Has certainly put me off renting...It can sit there and be used as an occasional bolthole, my worry over new rules and regulations is if someone did move in how does one get them out when it all goes pear-shaped!


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## AlbacoreA (22 Dec 2021)

Brendan Burgess said:


> It would be cheaper for the government to just pay the rental deposit than to set up the bureaucracy required for holding them and paying them out at the end and getting into disputes about what should be paid and what shouldn't be paid and for employing an equality officer to make sure that deposits are the same for every race, class, gender and creed, and to employ people to do annual and five year plans and others to liaise with the housing charities and other government bodies and to attend conferences abroad of the International Federation of State Backed Deposit Schemes and then to translate all of that into Irish.
> 
> Brendan



The reason to out source all of this (and deposits) to the private sector is to avoid all the being caught for all the costs risks in proving housing. 

Since all the new regulations they've introduced over the last couple of decades compound all this risk and cost on the LL. The Govt isn't going to go 180 and start doing anything with deposits.


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## Allpartied (22 Dec 2021)

Private landlords should be, gently,  run out of the business. 
There are, undoubtedly, many good ones, but the level of non-compliance is very high. 
Much better to have a well regulated company providing private rentals, along with a massive increase in council run housing and housing associations. 
For long term rentals, a council, a housing association, or regulated private company, will offer more security.  They will have a professional team of maintenance contractors, electricians, carpenters, painters, plumbers.  They will provide regular preventative maintenance, with communal areas manged properly.  
Obviously, this should be managed in a gradual, controlled programme of change.  We really shouldn't have rich, wealthy individuals telling a vulnerable family of five to vacate the house, because they want to sell  it, for a villa in the Algarve,


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## Shirazman (22 Dec 2021)

Allpartied said:


> We really shouldn't have rich, wealthy individuals telling a vulnerable family of five to vacate the house, because they want to sell  it, for a villa in the Algarve,



Why not?       And, in passing, what's the difference between "rich" and "wealthy"?


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## Leo (22 Dec 2021)

Allpartied said:


> There are, undoubtedly, many good ones, but the level of non-compliance is very high.


Source?



Allpartied said:


> Much better to have a well regulated company providing private rentals, along with a massive increase in council run housing and housing associations.
> For long term rentals, a council, a housing association, or regulated private company, will offer more security. They will have a professional team of maintenance contractors, electricians, carpenters, painters, plumbers.


Yeah, taking out an individual with a strong and personal vested interest and replacing them with faceless employees of a large corporation always improves customer experience!


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## AlbacoreA (22 Dec 2021)

Allpartied said:


> Private landlords should be, gently,  run out of the business.
> There are, undoubtedly, many good ones, but the level of non-compliance is very high.
> Much better to have a well regulated company providing private rentals, along with a massive increase in council run housing and housing associations.
> For long term rentals, a council, a housing association, or regulated private company, will offer more security.  They will have a professional team of maintenance contractors, electricians, carpenters, painters, plumbers.  They will provide regular preventative maintenance, with communal areas manged properly.
> Obviously, this should be managed in a gradual, controlled programme of change.  We really shouldn't have rich, wealthy individuals telling a vulnerable family of five to vacate the house, because they want to sell  it, for a villa in the Algarve,



Lot of flawed thinking in that. 

The reason such a family has to get housing from small landlords is because there's too much cost and not not enough profit in it for the big companies and local authorities.


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## Allpartied (22 Dec 2021)

Leo said:


> Source?
> 
> 
> Yeah, taking out an individual with a strong and personal vested interest and replacing them with faceless employees of a large corporation always improves customer experience!











						Rent increases may suggest 'unacceptable level of non-compliance by landlords' | BreakingNews.ie
					

The latest RTB report, which covers April to June 2021, revealed a national increase of 7 per cent




					www.breakingnews.ie
				












						Over 90% of private rental homes in Fingal ‘fail inspection’
					

Private properties reviewed in 2019, 2020 below minimum State standard, council told




					www.irishtimes.com
				




I mean there will be problems with private rental companies and they need to be closely regulated.  

But the strong, personal vested interest of the private landlord is not the same interest as the renter.  It is much harder to regulate thousands of individuals , than to regulate well run private companies, councils or housing associations.


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## Baby boomer (22 Dec 2021)

Allpartied said:


> Private landlords should be, gently,  run out of the business.
> There are, undoubtedly, many good ones, but the level of non-compliance is very high.
> Much better to have a well regulated company providing private rentals, along with a massive increase in council run housing and housing associations.
> For long term rentals, a council, a housing association, or regulated private company, will offer more security.  They will have a professional team of maintenance contractors, electricians, carpenters, painters, plumbers.  They will provide regular preventative maintenance, with communal areas manged properly.
> Obviously, this should be managed in a gradual, controlled programme of change.  We really shouldn't have rich, wealthy individuals telling a vulnerable family of five to vacate the house, because they want to sell  it, for a villa in the Algarve,


The ideal you're describing sounds familiar.  It's called communism.  It worked in the old Soviet Union and its dependencies.  Subsidized high-quality housing was provided for all by the State.  Professional teams of electricians, carpenters, painters and plumbers did the preventative maintenance and the communal areas were managed properly by the benevolent State authorities.  Millions of desperate refugees flocked from the Western "democracies" to live in this workers' paradise.  The East German Soviet satellite state even had to build a huge wall to keep them out!  

And of course private landlords were indeed gently run out of the business, and then gently put up against a wall and shot, or gently reallocated living quarters in a compassionate re-education facility in Siberia, where their benevolent KGB warders would help them reflect on the error of their exploitative ways while encouraging them to engage in a spot of healthy, rehabilitative rock breaking.  

Neither was there any question of rich wealthy individuals evicting vulnerable families of five so they could acquire a villa in the Algarve, or the Crimea.  Unless they were well up in the Party hierarchy of course.  

Ah yes, the joys of Communism.  What could possibly go wrong?


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## Allpartied (22 Dec 2021)

Shirazman said:


> Why not?       And, in passing, what's the difference between "rich" and "wealthy"?


You've obviously never been on the receiving end of such a demand. 

I was lucky enough to grow up in a well regulated, council owned rental property.  It was our home, and still is my mother's home.  We had full secure tenancy for life.   

It really does make a massive difference to the quality of life.


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## Allpartied (22 Dec 2021)

Baby boomer said:


> The ideal you're describing sounds familiar.  It's called communism.  It worked in the old Soviet Union and its dependencies.  Subsidized high-quality housing was provided for all by the State.  Professional teams of electricians, carpenters, painters and plumbers did the preventative maintenance and the communal areas were managed properly by the benevolent State authorities.  Millions of desperate refugees flocked from the Western "democracies" to live in this workers' paradise.  The East German Soviet satellite state even had to build a huge wall to keep them out!
> 
> And of course private landlords were indeed gently run out of the business, and then gently put up against a wall and shot, or gently reallocated living quarters in a compassionate re-education facility in Siberia, where their benevolent KGB warders would help them reflect on the error of their exploitative ways while encouraging them to engage in a spot of healthy, rehabilitative rock breaking.
> 
> ...


Its really not communism.  Its well regulated housing policy, rather than the wild west we have here. 

You will find similar housing policies in the Stalinist strongholds of New York, or Germany, or France, or Sweden.  

Private landlords are discouraged and large corporations, who get too big for their boots, are subject to strict regulation 









						Berlin’s vote to take properties from big landlords could be a watershed moment | Alexander Vasudevan
					

The successful referendum to expropriate the city’s apartments from corporate landlords is a potential template for Europe, writes Oxford University’s Alexander Vasudevan




					www.theguardian.com
				





Just for the record, I do not advocate the execution or gulag style exile of private landlords.


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## AlbacoreA (22 Dec 2021)

Allpartied said:


> You've obviously never been on the receiving end of such a demand.
> 
> I was lucky enough to grow up in a well regulated, council owned rental property.  It was our home, and still is my mother's home.  We had full secure tenancy for life.
> 
> It really does make a massive difference to the quality of life.


Who owns it now?


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## Allpartied (22 Dec 2021)

AlbacoreA said:


> Who owns it now?


The council still own it and when my mother passes on, or needs alternative care, it will be used to house another family.


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## AlbacoreA (22 Dec 2021)

Allpartied said:


> The council still own it and when my mother passes on, or needs alternative care, it will be used to house another family.



One of the reasons for the shortage of housing (social and affordable)  was local authorities selling off their housing. Not just in Ireland but across Europe. Also not building to replace stocks. 









						Only 75 local authority houses were built in 2015 - the worst year on record
					

Last November, Alan Kelly vowed there would 200 council houses built by the end of the year.




					www.thejournal.ie


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## AlbacoreA (22 Dec 2021)

Allpartied said:


> Its really not communism.  Its well regulated housing policy, rather than the wild west we have here.
> 
> You will find similar housing policies in the Stalinist strongholds of New York, or Germany, or France, or Sweden.
> 
> ...



This would  be the strict regulation and enforcement that they are failing to do now. But magically would suddenly be able to do it because....?


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## PebbleBeach2020 (22 Dec 2021)

Allpartied said:


> The council still own it and when my mother passes on, or needs alternative care, it will be used to house another family



You have some flawed thinking in your argument. From my experience, professional corporations renting out properties do so at the top end of the market. They charge the maximum rent possible and leave units vacant and release in small tranches to the rental market to ensure demand is high and so is the rent. These corporations are not interested in the lower end of the market, which is, again in my experience where a lot of these small landlords that you want to gently push out of the marketplace. Who will house these families and individuals paying in a lot of instances well below the market rent for such a property?

Do you want the small landlords to stay on in the market until the Councils and the Stat build enough houses for all these people in receipt of HAP etc? And once thats done then we can run the small landlords out of town?! Are you upset that these faceless corporations wouldn't have been interested in house you, your family or your mother? Are you jealous of small landlords and wanting to push them gently out of the market so that you can get a house perhaps?

Why is the focus on a relatively small number of landlords (86% of them hold just 1 or 2 properties) and not on the faceless corporations who hold tens of thousands of rental properties, or on the State and Councils who have overseen the sell off of Council properties and the stopping of building of Social Housing? Is it easier to blacken and blame a small cohort of landlords who may have this as their pension and worked and scrimped hard to save up and pay for the property?

Better to blame and gently push the small landlords out as these blaggards are paying 52% of rental income/profits in tax, whereas the faceless corporations are paying a fraction of that. To hell with these landlords.  

I'm not a renter, but running the mom and pop landlord out of business is a seriously back move over the medium term. I'd love to see the figures on what the mean or median rent charged by landlords with 1 property is, compared to faceless corporations with over a 100 properties. Does it need to be spelt out to you that if you want a market place with only faceless corporations then be prepared to pay anything from 200-500 euros (or maybe more) for the same property each month. 

In hindsight, what people wish for, if it comes to pass, can make them feel like idiots for proposing it in the first place. I get the feeling your suggestion of gently pushing the small landlord out, falls into this category perfectly.


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## Allpartied (22 Dec 2021)

AlbacoreA said:


> One of the reasons for the shortage of housing (social and affordable)  was local authorities selling off their housing. Not just in Ireland but across Europe. Also not building to replace stocks.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



This is, indeed, the core of the problem.   Private landlords, may be petrified, but with rents at record highs and prices still rising, renters are even more scared.  
Maybe, we need a little more intervention from the state, instead of this blind faith in the market. 









						Rory Hearne: Why is Nama not being used to address housing emergency?
					

The failure to use land owned by Nama to resolve the housing crisis is a failure of government policy, writes Dr Rory Hearne




					www.irishexaminer.com


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## jpd (22 Dec 2021)

PebbleBeach2020 said:


> whereas the faceless corporations are paying a fraction of that


If you are talking about REITs, then they have to pass on their profits to the shareholders - and the shareholders have to pay income tax on that so it is not exactly as taxless as you imply


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## Leo (22 Dec 2021)

Allpartied said:


> Rent increases may suggest 'unacceptable level of non-compliance by landlords' | BreakingNews.ie
> 
> 
> The latest RTB report, which covers April to June 2021, revealed a national increase of 7 per cent
> ...



Hold on, the RTB are just suggesting there might be unacceptable non-compliance based on rent increases being notified to them. Aren't they the authority who determines compliance with rent increases? They publish a tool to allow landlords determine the maximum they can increase rent by, but somehow they're not able to run analysis themselves on their own data to detect non-compliance? 

It's also no surprise that such a high proportion of properties in Fingal fail the inspection. The standards are set the the latest building regs, so the vast majority of older properties will fail one or more elements. Individual landlord or large company will have no effect on that issue. Indeed, the more likely outcome of greater institutional involvement in this area is that these companies with their significant legal budgets will fight to reduce these standards.


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## Allpartied (22 Dec 2021)

PebbleBeach2020 said:


> Do you want the small landlords to stay on in the market until the Councils and the Stat build enough houses for all these people in receipt of HAP etc? And once thats done then we can run the small landlords out of town?! Are you upset that these faceless corporations wouldn't have been interested in house you, your family or your mother? Are you jealous of small landlords and wanting to push them gently out of the market so that you can get a house perhaps?


If the small landlords are petrified, when rents are the highest they have ever been, then maybe they should all bail out.  When a house is sold, it doesn't disappear. 





PebbleBeach2020 said:


> You have some flawed thinking in your argument. From my experience, professional corporations renting out properties do so at the top end of the market. They charge the maximum rent possible and leave units vacant and release in small tranches to the rental market to ensure demand is high and so is the rent. These corporations are not interested in the lower end of the market, which is, again in my experience where a lot of these small landlords that you want to gently push out of the marketplace. Who will house these families and individuals paying in a lot of instances well below the market rent for such a property?


The private companies may have a role to play and, it is my experience, that they are far more professional when it comes to implementing simple repairs, or upkeep, or secure tenancies.   Most landlords regard the property as their house, which they have generously allowed you to rent, until they decide to kick you out.   
But councils, or housing associations should form the bulk of the rental market.   They should be present in every part of every town and city in the country.


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## Leo (22 Dec 2021)

Allpartied said:


> Maybe, we need a little more intervention from the state, instead of this blind faith in the market.


With the state bodies struggling to collect rent, they have been most influential in trying to pass this off to the private sector.


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## AlbacoreA (22 Dec 2021)

None of this has anything to do with private LLs. 

Regulation, enforcement and supply are all controlled by the state. 

Private rental market should be seperate from social and public housing. If you have a 2 million euro apartment it makes no sense you are tied into the same rules and regulations as a the cheapest one bed flat. Really all these knee jerk ideas are just destroying the market. The Govt is happy to deflect on to the private market because it makes people ignore the Govt part in all of this. 

The problem you have is the vast majority of the private market is one property landlords. How much wealth do you think you can generate from one rental.


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## Sarenco (22 Dec 2021)

Department of Finance officials warn Department of Housing against extending rent controls -

_‘The insights from economics is clear about rent controls: they reduce housing supply relative to what would otherwise be the case. So while those currently in rented accommodation may benefit from price controls in the short run, those seeking to get into the rental market lose out because supply is curtailed.’_









						Expanding rent pressure zones will cut housing supply, say mandarins - Extra.ie
					

Expanding rent pressure zones will reduce the supply of housing, the Department of Finance has warned.



					extra.ie


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## AlbacoreA (22 Dec 2021)

It also gets rid of older cheaper rentals replacing them with more expensive newer rentals.


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## Shirazman (22 Dec 2021)

Allpartied said:


> You've obviously never been on the receiving end of such a demand.





Allpartied said:


> I was lucky enough to grow up in a well regulated, council owned rental property.  It was our home, and still is my mother's home.  We had full secure tenancy for life.



So neither have you.    Good that we've established that.

Now all that remains is your explanation of the difference between being rich and being wealthy.


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## Shirazman (22 Dec 2021)

Allpartied said:


> This is, indeed, the core of the problem.   Private landlords, may be petrified, but with rents at record highs and prices still rising, renters are even more scared.
> Maybe, we need a little more intervention from the state, instead of this blind faith in the market.
> 
> 
> ...



The problem with that - and other - PbP/Hearne articles in the Examiner and The Journal (who appear ro publish them uncritiaclly on a regular basis, presumably because they're being provided free of charge) is that he has this delusion (shared by many others on the left) that there exists a massive pool of developers and unemployed builders in Ireland who simply can't wait to be let loose at a range of social housing sites around the country!    It's rather like the Sinn Fein/Soc Dem delusion that there are literally hundreds of unemployed nurses and doctors who just can't wait to join the HSE!    Pipe dreams.


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## AlbacoreA (22 Dec 2021)

People seem to forget that the private rental market didn't want to service social housing and affordable housing. They were content to stick to private rentals. Hence the adverts saying saying no rent allowance, hap etc. Looking for job reference's. 

But the legislation was changed to force the private market to service that market. Now they want it run the same as public, state housing. 

Somehow they can't see why that's a problem.


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## The Horseman (22 Dec 2021)

jpd said:


> If you are talking about REITs, then they have to pass on their profits to the shareholders - and the shareholders have to pay income tax on that so it is not exactly as taxless as you imply


Only if the shareholders are Irish tax residents and in the main they are not. Alot of the REIT funds come from foreign pension funds.


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## AlbacoreA (22 Dec 2021)

This is not solely an Irish problem. There was a shift to drive housing as a financial vehicle all over the world. At the same time a shift away from public housing, to outsourcing into the private market. Again all over the world. With local variations. 

The Irish economic growth was not solely down to construction either. There has also been a huge shift from agriculture to other industries. 





__





						GDP by Sector - CSO - Central Statistics Office
					






					www.cso.ie


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## PebbleBeach2020 (22 Dec 2021)

Allpartied said:


> Most landlords regard the property as their house


Really?! How bloody dare they?! Imagine paying for an asset and regarding it as your own. What planet are you on?!


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## Clamball (23 Dec 2021)

Allpartied said:


> The council still own it and when my mother passes on, or needs alternative care, it will be used to house another family.


I think this is where some of Irelands problems lie.  You have a single person occupying a family home at the expense of the taxpayer.  The idea that an individual occupies state provided housing for life should be changed.  Surely the person who ends up in state housing should consider that they have a window of opportunity to save for their own place as they have the privilege of living in a valuable asset and paying less then market rent.  

All social housing should have a regular review every 5 years to assess the whether those on the social housing waiting list have a greater need than those utilising the housing stock.  I would suggest that when the family house becomes a home for a couple after children have completed education, the house should be freed up for another family.


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## jpd (23 Dec 2021)

The Horseman said:


> Only if the shareholders are Irish tax residents and in the main they are not. Alot of the REIT funds come from foreign pension funds.


Only foreign? 
I am pretty sure that most Irish Pension funds would have property assets as well


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## Lockup (23 Dec 2021)

Allpartied said:


> When a house is sold, it doesn't disappear.


Well it actually it does!.. as occupancy rates are lower when the house is owner occupied so it actually does disappear for those displaced.


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## The Horseman (23 Dec 2021)

jpd said:


> Only foreign?
> I am pretty sure that most Irish Pension funds would have property assets as well


I never said all were foreign owned. But sure feel free to interpret my post the way you want.


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