Joan Burton proposes new rent regulator to tackle rising costs
The Tánaiste Joan Burton has proposed the establishment of a rent regulator.
It comes as the Environment Minister Alan Kelly and the Finance Minister Michael Noonan try to agree on how best to tackle the housing crisis.
Minister Kelly wants to link rent to inflation, but the Tánaiste Joan Burton has suggested a rent regulator with powers to influence the size of rent rises instead.
New powers may be given to the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) to help tackle the issue.
The PRTB is currently not empowered to tackle rising rents, being confined to resolving other disputes between tentants and landlords and an advisory role to government.
The proposal will be considered at a Cabinet sub-committee meeting next week.
On Budget Day this week, Minister Brendan Howlin claimed that rent control remained a priority for the Government.
“The Budget is not the end of the journey,” he said. “There will be lots of other policy measures to be implemented before the term of this Government will be out – I’m sure that will be one of them.”
The Taoiseach Enda Kenny said: “The Minister for Housing and Environment are obviously looking at a package of measures on the supply side which is the real problem here”, saying that the Government is looking for a solution “without interfering with the market to its disadvantage”.
