'We can't pull the rug out from under renters': Plea to keep rent pressure zones

Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s comments over the weekend around housing have been criticised by opposition politicians in Cork, as housing charity Threshold expressed concern for low-income earners should rent pressure zone caps be removed.

Mr Martin was criticised for saying that more private investment is needed to address the housing crisis. He also said the Government will review all housing policies including considering whether to abolish rent pressure zones, which are due to expire on December 31 this year.

A rent pressure zone is a designated area where rents cannot be increased by more than general inflation or by 2% — however, the average cost of renting in Cork city rose by more than 10% from the end of 2023 to the end of 2024, according to Daft.ie.

Labour Party TD for Cork North-Central, Eoghan Kenny, has criticised the Taoiseach’s comments around rent pressure zones (RPZs), saying: “The Programme for government states something quite different — that they will ‘continue to review the effectiveness of the rent pressure zones’, which is what the Fianna Fáil manifesto also said, while Fine Gael said it will maintain the RPZ framework to keep rent increases under control.

“Whatever system may replace RPZs, it cannot allow for increases in rent levels, which are already at record highs. We can’t pull the rug out from under renters.

“Labour has long called for a rent register to set reference rents, but that key issue of a set local rent level is not outlined in the programme for government. Critically, Labour would tie the introduction of reference rents to a three-year rent freeze while the State works to increase housing supply.”

People Before Profit-Solidarity city councillor Brian McCarthy told The Echo: “It’s clear from Micheál Martin’s comments this week that the Government don’t see the housing crisis as an emergency, they see it as an investment opportunity.

“Even RPZs still allow annual rent increases — what we need is a rent freeze across the whole country, pending rent reviews to bring rents down, indexed to people’s wages, and a permanent no-fault eviction ban.” He added: “All housing built should be affordable, publicly-owned, and built by a State construction company.”

A Threshold spokesperson told The Echo: “Through Threshold’s work advising and supporting private renters, we are only too aware that over the last 12 years, rents have increased without pause, and the rent pressure zones have helped to moderate the excesses of rental hikes — yet rents have still increased. If RPZs were to be removed, Threshold’s worry is for the impact on low- or average-earners in the private rental market. An end to RPZ legislation must be met with robust measures which continue to protect renters on low to middle incomes.

“With private sector voices flooding the debate on the future of rent-setting, we are very concerned that renters’ interests will be secondary when Government considers a successor system to the RPZs.”

The spokesperson suggested a system proposed by the Housing Commission, whereby increases would be pegged to a ‘reference rent’ for local housing of similar quality, but said time spent changing from one system to another could leave people falling between the cracks, recommending that the rent pressure zones “should be extended until such time that a fully planned and tested replacement is ready to be implemented”.