No relief for hard-pressed renters

Responding to the latest rental report from the RTB, Labour Housing spokesperson, Jan O’Sullivan TD, commented:

“These latest figures show the cost of rent in parts of the country has now gone way above the boom time highs, making it completely unaffordable for the vast majority of people.

“If we look at Dublin in particular where the average monthly rent now stands at €1,700- it’s very clear the rent pressure zone status is not working.

“This is a yearly increase of 7 per cent- much higher than the 4 per cent cap.

“At the very least, Minister Murphy needs to instate a dwelling specific rent register, so tenants can clearly see what has previously been charged.

“It’s also time to consider introducing a temporary rent freeze as for those already paying extortionately high rents, a 4 per cent increase is in itself quite significant.

“We all know that house building needs to be urgently ramped up to deal with the housing crisis and Labour believes a state-led approach is the best way to tackle the issue.

“But a problem that keeps coming up time and time again is the high cost of land as a major barrier to building homes, with the ESRI in its commentary today repeating calls for a hike in the vacant site levy to deal with speculative land hoarding by developers.

“To this effect, we must ensure any loopholes in vacant site tax collection are closed to ensure this practice is not going on under the radar.”