Labour demands ban on evictions for landlords selling up
Labour housing spokesperson Rebecca Moynihan has demanded a ban on evictions for landlords exiting the property market.
With a precarious winter ahead, Senator Moynihan said Government must have a sense of urgency on security of tenure for renters who are living in deep anxiety and uncertainty.
Senator Moynihan said:
“We need to see Government policy bending and adapting to the needs of people across the country. Right now, we have a rental crisis, not a landlord crisis. Government must implement measures to protect vulnerable renters and ensure they keep a roof over their head regardless of who their landlord is. The law must be changed so that tenants can stay in situ even when landlords are selling up or exiting the property market altogether.
“Open the newspaper any day of the week and there is another harrowing personal story of a family literally left out in the cold due to a failure of Government to grasp the nettle on housing. Government has the power to stop the huge numbers of family at risk of homelessness, it’s time to get real and to stop seeing housing as a commodity.
“With crisis preparations underway for the winter, Government must provide certainty to renters that they will not be pushed out of their home. Labour is reiterating calls for a temporary and immediate eviction ban to stop people entering homelessness from the private market.
“A year on from Housing for All, it is clearly failing. The failure to tackle insecure housing by restricting evictions as proposed in Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill continues to add to the ever-rising levels of homelessness and risks locking an entire generation out. We need to bring down rents through proper State intervention. Instead of offering tax breaks for landlords, Government must implement measures in next week’s Budget that takes into account the reality of record rents and record asset prices.”