Cinderella sector

Registration of tenancies has been widely accepted by landlords, with more than 200,000 tenancies registered. In spite of all that was said in advance of the introduction of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, the rental market has not collapsed as the number of tenancy registrations grows.

This change coincided with the rapid growth of the Irish economy. In 2006, almost 90,000 housing units were built in Ireland, more than a third of which were investment properties. It is estimated that there are more landlords in Ireland today than there are farmers. Indeed given the changes that are under way, renting may even become respectable.

Threshold is a national voluntary housing organisation primarily dealing with tenants in the private rented sector. Last year it advised more than 20,000 clients, almost 10 per cent of all tenants in the sector. This year the organisation is celebrating

its 30th birthday.

There is a lot to celebrate. It has taken years of campaigning to bring about changes. Founded at a time of overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, rising rents, evictions and a lack of security of tenure, the organisation quickly realised that advice was not enough. Lack of security undermined what tenant rights existed and, alongside fair rents, it became the organisation’s main campaign objective.

The most serious issues were illegal eviction and retaliatory notice to quit. The organisation’s goals were security of tenure for tenants and fair rents. The concept was simple... no eviction without fair cause.

With the appointment of a visionary minister for housing, a booming economy, intense political campaigning by Threshold and wide coverage in the media, the government decided in 1999 to set up a commission to look at the private rented sector.

Home ownership was becoming difficult for marginal groups, and population growth and rise in demand for housing coupled with rising incomes had led to significant price inflation. Social housing build had reached an all-time low in the early 1990s, forcing the government to use the private rental sector to house welfare groups.

The rising cost to the exchequer of rent supplement as the number of claimants rose and rents increased led to fiscal concerns.

The standard of rented housing available to these vulnerable tenants and the insecurity they faced in accommodation paid for by the state were kept constantly to the forefront in campaigning by Threshold.

As a member of the new commission, Threshold negotiated with landlord representatives and others around trade-offs of mutual benefit, such as support for tax treatment of rental income in exchange for acceptance of a maximum rent that cannot exceed the market level.

The eventual outcome was a compromise – Threshold wanted unlimited security of tenure and the negotiated outcome was four years.

Landlords have a right to give notice without cause during the first six months ­РThreshold wanted a limit of three months, believing six months would not prevent landlords abusing the system.

Threshold wanted rents linked to the consumer index – the outcome was once-only annual rent increases, which cannot exceed market rates.

However, the final outcome in the form of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 was welcomed by Threshold and its impact on the sector has been immense.

While few tenants access the Private Residential Tenancies Board (PRTB) for dispute resolution (about 1,500 in 2007) the existence of clearly set-out rights and obligations, together with the possibility of recourse to a dispute resolution system, has fundamentally altered the landlord and tenant relationship.

Issues remain to be resolved: the dispute resolution process is slow, deposit retention remains a serious problem and standards of accommodation at the lower end of the market are a disgrace.

However, Threshold’s campaign goes on and we are confident of bringing about change in these areas. At the end of the day a good quality well-regulated rented sector harms nobody ¬≠– the alternative does.

Aideen Hayden is chair of Threshold and a member of the PRTB. she is also a solicitor and an ad astra scholar at University College, Dublin.