Over 4,000 people in Ireland had their tenancies terminated, research shows
According to figures from the Residential Tenancies Board (RTB), just over 4,300 properties in the Republic of Ireland were given a notice of termination in the last quarter of 2022.
The RTB, a public body created to support and develop the housing sector, revealed this week that 4,329 properties in the Republic of Ireland were given notice that their tenancy was going to end towards the end of last year.
Landlords claim this occurred because they intended to sell the rental properties – this was a reason for 58% of people who had their contracts axed. The news has also broke days after the Irish government controversially halted an eviction ban.
In October last year the Irish government approved a temporary eviction ban which stated that renters could not be issued with eviction notices between November 2022 and March 2023. Opposition parties hoped the ban would be extended past the March deadline, but the government agreed to end it on 1st April.
Last week the Minister for Housing, Darragh O’Brien told Seanad Éireann – upper house of Irish Parliament – that the eviction ban was ‘never intended to be a permanent arrangement.’
Mr O’Brien said increasing housing supply would help resolve challenges in the rental market and that extending the eviction ban would not achieve this.
He said: ‘No party ever suggested it be permanent. The fear was that lifting the ban would speed up the loss and were it to be extended we would lose more private property owners in the market.’
Following the 4,329 tenancies that have been stopped, a further 2,630 outstanding terminations are expected to come into effect between April and July this year.
However, whilst the news has unfolded about the number of terminated tenancies in Ireland skyrocketing, things are looking up for people in Northern Ireland as the government have recently published a new affordable homes plan.
Image: Jason Murphy