Chai Brady
There were calls for the family to have a prominent role in the life of the Church were conveyed by synod participants in the Diocese of Ardagh and Clonmacnois Legacy Supplement
Lack of policing and policy change in the rental sector is leading to multiple abuses and increased struggle for housing, Threshold tells Chai Brady
There are many, many people across Ireland doing all within their power to assist people keep a roof over their heads and make it through the worsening housing crisis but there are those, as there always is, profiting on human suffering.
Unscrupulous landlords have been able to raise rents illegally and dodge planning permission laws for short let accommodation such as AirBnB without rebuke, priest-founded housing charity Threshold has warned.
It is becoming more difficult for them to help people in tenancy disputes as many tenants are too afraid to challenge their landlord for fear of being evicted, particularly as available housing reached record lows this year.
In addition, with the moratorium on rents ending along with Covid-19 restrictions, landlords who were planning to sell and leave the rental sector are doing so causing more people to search among the scant and increasingly expensive rental supply.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, CEO of Threshold John Mark McCafferty said despite all the challenges, there is still a “chink of light” which is the introduction of cost rental properties but much more are needed on the market “because you have a housing provider with a social purpose, providing rented accommodation lower than market rent – now it’s not much lower but it is lower than the prevailing market rent”.
“It also broadens supply and the more we see the likes of cost rental the more we see the likes of short lets being limited in their availability – I’m talking about the likes of AirBnB,” Mr McCafferty said.
He said there is a lack of regulation in the short-term letting sector in Rent Pressure Zones (RPZ) – a designated area where rents cannot be increased by more than 4% per annum unless an exemption is being applied – and this has led to suspect activity.
“According to the law, if you’re letting an entire property for more than 90 days a year in an RPZ, that house or apartment needs to get planning permission from the local authority and yet we’re seeing far more short lets available on the market in RPZ than we are long term rental leases,” he said.
“Something is not right, there is a disconnect there in relation to what the statute says and what’s happening on the ground, there has to be houses and apartments in RPZ letting the entire apartment or house for more than 90 days of the year and they do not have a change in planning permission, I just don’t accept that they have received that planning permission in all those circumstances from the local authorities so action is required from the local authorities.”
Inspection
Mr McCafferty said local authorities could do “an awful lot more” both in terms of inspection regimes for the physical quality of the rented sector but also in terms of policing short lets and letting of entire properties in RPZ areas. “That is simply not being enforced, local authorities, or whichever body is best placed to do that, needs to be on top of that,” he added.
These inspections are particularly important in the context of the effects of Covid-19 on the housing sector. The virus brought construction to a halt for an extended period, slowing down progress on new residential builds. While this was one issue, the moratorium on rents gave many tenants a false sense of security as many landlords decided to sell their properties – a legal reason to evict a tenant – when it was lifting.
Mr McCafferty explains: “With the moratorium on evictions landlords couldn’t progress those evictions and I suppose once all of that was lifted there were probably properties landlords had planned to sell, had planned to have a family member moving in or for other reasons and they acted on that, so there was a momentum in the sector that was suppressed so we’re seeing that now.
“We’re also seeing, I think due to tax reasons and financial reasons and also the prices of houses selling, landlords moving out of negative equity. There are still landlords whose rented properties were in negative equity until very, very recently. They’re now trying to realise that asset and in doing so the tenancy is coming to an end.
“We’re seeing this rebound, and it’s a negative rebound as it’s landlords leaving the market, it’s sustained increase in rents and the dearth of supply at a time of increased demand for housing and that is borne out by the homeless figures which are beginning to increase as people can’t source alternative accommodation in the private rented sector and have to move to emergency accommodation provided by the NGOs and the statutory bodies so all in all a very, very challenging picture, coupled also with the increased cost in living.”
Rising rents
Mr McCafferty warned that while rents were rising, since about 2013, the inflation rate was low at about 1-2%. The Central Statistics Office revealed in April that the inflation rate has now reached 7% – the highest rate in 22 years.
“On top of that then you’ve got a cost of energy crisis and that is more acutely felt in the private rented sector than in any other tenure because private rented sector housing on average has lower BER ratings than owner occupied or social housing and secondly the tenant themselves has less authority over making the house more thermally efficient and sometimes they can’t choose the energy provider. The energy provider contract is maybe in the landlord’s name so they can’t shop around,” he said.
“There’s a whole rake of issues there that we’re trying to untangle and work with people in the private rented sector on because it’s a particularly challenging time.”
Threshold reported in April that its advisors intervened to prevent 1,166 households from entering homelessness in the first three months of this year. In all, 1,582 adults and 1,002 children were able to stay in their homes or were supported to secure alternative housing.
Two-thirds of Threshold clients were put at risk of homelessness in the same period when their landlord gave them a notice of termination. More than half of these landlords sought to end the tenancy as they intended to sell the home, with 15% stating they required the home for their own use.
While Threshold can assist a tenant to challenge an invalid notice of termination and so hold onto their home, 53% of notices were valid.
Challenges
In light of the many challenges renters face, Threshold has recommended a numbers of policy changes to assist private renters to pay their rent and address rent arrears. These include an increase in the Housing Assistance Payment limits, the provision of a rent arrears fund and a change to the legislation on rent arrears.
“Since we were founded by Fr Donal O’Mahony [OFM Cap] in 1978 a big emphasis was on advising tenants in relation to their unique situation in the rental sector, but the backbone of what we do in conjunction with the advice is tenancy protection so even in these dire circumstances we’re still saving tenancies we’re just not necessarily saving as many but there are some we simply can’t save.
“If a landlord wishes to leave the market by selling then they can, and they do, and we’re seeing that experienced, but we can ensure that the full notice period is being adhered to by the landlord, which gives a tenant a bit more of a chance to secure alternative accommodation, albeit much more difficult nowadays given the lack of supply.
“It may be that the tenant is eligible for rent supplement and it could be that the tenancy is under threat due to a rent increase, we can get a rent supplement increase, now obviously there are fewer people on rent supplement now than there used to be,” he said.
“We advocate and we look for policy change in relation to increases in the HAP (Housing Assistance Payment) levels and currently we’re pushing a HAP protocol in agreement with the Department of Housing, to increase, or augment HAP levels for individual cases in order to ensure that individual families and people can remain in their tenancies through this HAP increase and failing that then a more broad, more general payment increase across the population who are in receipt of HAP and I guess that’s important because there hasn’t been an increase in those HAP levels since 2016 and we know that rents have increased very, very significantly since 2016, so there’s time for movement there,” he said.
Discrimination
Asked about reports of landlords not accepting people who are in receipt of HAP, he said while it’s against the law due to it being discriminatory, unless landlords have expressed that reason in a way that can be documented it’s very difficult to prove.
Threshold, while helping people in front of the Residential Tenancies Board, also represent people at the Workplace Relations Commission which would adjudicate cases such as discriminatory practices, and have reached successful conclusions.
Average rent
According to a Daft.ie report into the Irish rental sector published this month, the average market rent per month rosefrom just over €1,400 a year ago to €1,567 in the first quarter of 2022. A decade ago the average rent was €765 per month.
On May 1 this year, there were just 851 homes available to rent nationwide. The report stated: “The average number of homes available to rent nationwide at any point in time over the fifteen-year period 2006-2021 was nearly 9,200 – over ten times the supply available currently.”
While eviction can always be a gut wrenching experience, Mr McCafferty said even five to 10 years ago there was a much greater chance of people starting a new tenancy elsewhere. The extreme lack of supply is leaving people with little or no options.
Mr McCafferty said: “The Rent Pressure Zones, they work in certain circumstances but some landlords have always tried to flout them or ignore them. Others either try their luck or misinterpret the legislation and give an invalid rent review.
“We’ll often see the letter seeking the rent increase is invalid for a particular reason, maybe a technical reason, and the tenant generally has fought that on that basis. We’re seeing more that tenants are more likely to accept it because they don’t want to get into a row, or any kind of conflict, because they feel the risk of losing their home and not being able to source any alternative accommodation is too high a risk.”
Refugees
With many Ukrainian refugees arriving to Ireland to flee the war at a time there is so much stress on the housing sector, there has been some difficulty finding them suitable accommodation.
Asked about this, Mr McCafferty said: “I think there was already a housing crisis and I think obviously it’s our duty, it’s a Christian duty to house the stranger and to open our homes and to do everything in our power to welcome and accommodate people who are fleeing the aggression that we’re seeing.
“I think Ireland has a big heart and we can do both, but in order to do both, we need a lot of effort and a lot of concerted coordination by both State and civil society and indeed the private sector to ensure we’re both meeting our existing housing targets and also ensuring that we’re providing shelter, accommodation and housing for our Ukrainian friends and family.”
Threshold are continuing to operate in a complex environment but are determined to fulfil the mission of their founder, Fr O’Mahony, to house the stranger and keep a roof over their head.