The Aontú Dublin Central by-election candidate says everyone in the city knew the reforms were guaranteed to jack rents up even higher.
Aontú’s Ian Noel Smyth has said citizens of the capital are being punished harder than anyone else by crippling rent increases caused by new laws.
The record rent hikes – revealed in today’s Daft report – showed Dublin rents rising by 6.9pc in the capital, with the new reforms triggering the highest rises nationwide since 2002.
Said Smyth: “Everyone in the street knew these reforms, which kicked in in March, would leave to evictions and rent increases. And that is exactly what has happened.
“They were warned by everyone, and urged to reconsider, but they would not listen to the people. Even the Central Bank and the Housing Commission said it was a bad idea guaranteed to cause renters more pain.
“But they want rents to go higher, so this new law has done exactly that. It allows landlords to reset the rent to ‘market rates’ every six years or every new tenant. The Government said they wanted to attract investors. What attracts investors? More money.
“Ireland’s biggest private landlord, IRES Reit, told its investors it would lead to 25% rent hikes over time. Now, tenants are looking at more than €2,600 a month on average for a two-bed flat in Dublin. The rents rose in Dublin by 6.9% but this is on top of it already being by far the most expensive place to rent in Ireland, with the least supply. The private renter is being hardest hit, without the buffer of supports. Things were bad enough – this Government and its policies have made it worse.”
