I move:
That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend section 35A of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (as amended) so as to protect tenants of multi-unit developments from large-scale evictions.
I am introducing my Tenancy Protection Bill 2023. The aim of this Bill is to put an end to the practice of mass evictions of renters. This is a real issue affecting people right now. I will give two examples. In Tathony House, 35 households are being evicted by their landlord. This involves 100 people. They have been given notice to quit with a leave date of 2 June, given that the eviction ban is being lifted. To date, Dublin City Council, despite Government promises in terms of expanding the tenant in situ scheme, has not agreed to step in, buy the building and protect these tenancies. Not far away, on Rathmines Road, renters in up to 20 apartments have been served with notices to quit. Their notice to quit dates fall in May. This includes some people who have been living there for 20 years. This is their home that they are being evicted from. They are finding it extremely hard to get a viewing, let alone an alternative place to live. One renter on Rathmines Road, having sent 500 to 600 emails since August last, has got one viewing as a result. How can anyone be expected to maintain hope and keep on going in searching for somewhere to live in that situation?
The practice of evicting people who are paying their rent is barbaric and the practice of doing this en masse should not be acceptable. In 2016, after 40 households from Tyrrelstown were simultaneously given notice to quit, the Tyrrelstown amendment in 2017 was brought in stating that ten or more households cannot be evicted at the same time. However, there are clear flaws to that amendment, as we can see, with landlords currently attempting to evict renters en masse. There is a loophole in that amendment which allows landlords to do that if they state that if they do not evict the renters, it could have an effect on the price of sale of 20% or more. If they claim, indeed, that it would cause them undue hardship or by not evicting them it would be unduly onerous, they are allowed to carry out these mass evictions subject to disputes being raised with the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB. This Bill intends to close that loophole, prevent landlords from carrying out these mass evictions, and ensure that renters do not have to go through the trauma and stress of being served with these evictions and then having to appeal to the RTB.
Many of the renters in these situations, who play key roles in society and in the economy and whom we rely on in terms of the service industries and healthcare, are being put through this incredibly stressful situation unnecessarily. In most European countries, you cannot evict renters who pay their rent. Landlords who wish to sell do so with the tenants in situ so that renters can stay in their homes. Nobody who pays his or her rent on time should live in constant fear of homelessness.
We need to change the conversation around evictions in this country.
This Bill aims to do that. The conversation in most other European countries is not about evicting renters who pay their rent but about how to support renters who fall behind in their rent payments to prevent them becoming homeless. In some countries, it is not possible to evict renters into homelessness. In others, a number of measures are put in place to support renters and landlords if renters fall behind with their rent payments.
It is wrong that we are not treating housing as homes but as financial commodities. What we need to do, and what the Bill aims to do, is put a bit of humanity back into our housing system to recognise that housing is not a financial asset or commodity but people's homes. Let us also recognise that a significant part of the property prices that landlords avail of when carrying out mass evictions results directly from public investment in amenities and infrastructure. It does not stem from the ingenuity of someone who just so happened to be able to buy something up and then evicted tenants.
Given our country's history of investing in housing and, through the Land Commission, buying up land to protect people from eviction, we need to ensure our legislation carries that through. I ask that there be strong support for the Bill.
