What vested interests are holding up rent controls?

The issue of spiraling rents was raised this week in the Dáil by Brian Stanley TD.

Speaking in the Dáil this week on Sinn Féin’s Secure Rents and Tenancies Bill, Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley outlined the urgent need for this Bill to deal with massive rent increases and asked what vested interests are holding up rent controls.
Stanley said “This Government and the previous one have failed spectacularly to introduce effective rent controls. Rent controls would ensure people have a roof over their heads and would save the Government money because we would have fewer homeless people and less rent allowance to pay out to private landlords.

The previous Government introduced a measure where rents could only be increased every two years and we were told that this would solve the problem. I remember saying that it would not address the problem. Many landlords took advantage and brought in massive rent hikes, which in some cases were as much as 30%. I have seen rents in Laois increase from €550 per month to €800 per month. In Monasterevin I saw rents increase from €700 per month to €1,000 per month. A daft.ie survey shows that the average increase in rents in the past 12 months in Laois was 13.6% and in Kildare it was 13.4%.
Meanwhile, 300,000 houses are vacant across the State. Research shows that 12.1% of houses are vacant in Laois and 7.8% are vacant in Kildare. Banks and vulture funds are repossessing homes and boarding them up and sitting tight waiting for the value of the houses to increase. Families are being forced into an already overpriced, overcrowded and congested private rented sector, or worse still, into homelessness.

Government inaction is adding to the problem. I ask the Minister to put effective rent controls in place; link rent increases to the rate of general inflation and bring in measures where tenancies can be transferred with the sale of a house. More  people who have unsustainable mortgages should be moved into the Mortgage to Rent scheme and an ambitious housing building programme should be accelerated. We want to see more local authority housing because that has to be part of the solution.
In conclusion Deputy Stanley said “Governments are supposed to govern and regulate and, thus far, this Government, following on from the previous one, has failed to address this issue. What vested interests are holding this up? This Bill is good for people who are in private rented accommodation, it is good for the taxpayer and it is good for the public finances.”