I welcome the legislation before the House and I commend the Minister and the Minister of State on their work in progressing it. The need for reform in the sector itself is clear. The legislation, as my colleagues said, seeks to strike a balance between strengthening protections for tenants while also ensuring landlords stay in the rental market. However, there are a few issues I believe must be addressed before this legislation is enacted. I welcome the report laid before the Dáil by my colleague, Deputy Micheál Carrigy, Cathaoirleach of the housing committee. I believe the recommendations in this report need to be thoroughly considered by the Department. Recommendation number seven is particularly important. This proposes that the distinction between large and small landlords should be reconsidered to account for the number of properties owned rather than the number of tenancies held. According to that data most recently published by the RTB, over half of landlords are currently associated with five or fewer tenancies. They are not large corporate entities. In many cases, they are self-employed workers or PAYE employees who have invested their own money in a property as an alternative to a pension, using rental income for deposits and committing to mortgages spanning 20 to 30 years. I would go further than the committee's recommendation. It does not make sense that a small- or medium-sized landlord with four or five tenancies should be treated the same way as a corporate landlord. Small landlords are a core component of our housing system, whether some like it or not. There are over 240,000 private tenancies on the housing register, with almost half of those associated with small landlords. Five as a level is probably a good place at which to set that distinction. I understand it has to be set somewhere but it has to be set very carefully. We have to be careful in terms of striking that balance. Another concern raised with me relates to families where a relative has entered long-term care. In particular, there does not seem to be an exception under the legislation that would allow a tenancy to be terminated following the death of a landlord whose family home had been rented out, effectively, to provide for the cost of care. While I understand the Department is going to look at issues around the fair deal scheme in this regard, we need to ensure that families with similar, effectively private, arrangements outside that scheme will also be protected in this way. I ask that the Minister urgently examine these issues over the coming days and weeks, recognising that these changes are intended to come into effect urgently from next month and that many families are understandably concerned. We have to get this right, not just for tenants, but for the long-term stability and viability of the rental sector as a whole.

Sentiment score: 0.25